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1906 
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HUGHES 




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COPYRICIIT DKPOSIT. 







JAMES L. HUGHES 



BY 

JAMES L. HUGHES 

Chief Inspector of Schools, Toronto 

Author of Froebel's Educational Laws, Dickens as an 
Educator, Securing and Retaining Attention, Etc. 




CHICAGO 
A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Cooies Received 

JUN 4 1906 

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COPY B. 



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COPYRIGHT 1906 

BY 

A. FXANAGAN COMPANY 



PREFACE 



It is very gratifying to know that "Mistakes in 
Teaching" has been of service to many teachers 
by enabling them to avoid some of the errors 
frequently made by inexperienced members of our 
profession. 

Several editions of the book have been pub- 
lished in Canada, in the United States, in Jamaica 
and in Australia. Some of them have been 
authorized and some were published without 
authority. A. Flanagan Company believing that 
the book may still be useful, have asked me to 
revise it, and add some new matter. I sincerely 
hope that in its present form it may be found to 
be more suggestive and more helpful than formerly. 

JAMES L. HUGHES 

Toronto, April 7th, 1906 



MISTAKES IN TEACHING 



CHAPTER I 



Mistakes in School Management 

1. It is a Mistake to Neglect the Details of 
School Management. — The attention paid to what 
are regarded by many as " minor points" un- 
worthy of attention, in reality makes the differ- 
ence between a well-managed and a poorly-con- 
ducted school. Minor points they may be, but the 
mistake consists in regarding them as therefore 
unimportant. Mr. J. R. Blakiston, one of His 
Majesty's Inspectors of Schools in England, says: 
"The least gifted may take heart when he be- 
thinks him that success in school management de- 
pends mainly on watchful and unremitting atten- 
tion to little details, and in conscientiously grap- 
pling with every difficulty as it arises." He who 
is careful in the details of school management 
will, in nearly all cases, attend carefully to mat- 
ters of larger scope. He who attends to the 



6 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

" minor" points will not need to attend to many 
serious difficulties, because they will not occur. 

There can be no doubt that uniform attention 
to particulars in connection with the deportment 
of the pupils in the yard, in line, and in the school- 
room, is a most valuable disciplinary agent in 
forming their characters. Habits may thus be 
formed which will do much to decide the degree 
of success to which the pupils will attain, when 
they become men and women. A man's ability 
to use knowledge decides the success or failure 
of his teachers in training him. His ability to 
use knowledge depends on the definiteness of his 
will-action more than on the extent of his knowl- 
edge, the training of his powers of observation, 
and the development of logical thought. The 
habit of precise and forcible will -action is there- 
fore of very great importance. The character of 
will-action depends on the way in which pupils 
are trained to do the thousand and one acts in 
the routine of their daily lives. Hence every act 
in standing, sitting, walking, taking books, slates, 
etc., etc., should be performed in a prompt, defi- 
nite, and orderly manner. 

The following details should receive the care- 
ful attention of every teacher: — 

I. Lining the pupils at the close of all recesses 
and marching them in regular order to their school- 
rooms. — This should be done in a uniform man- 



MISTAKES IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT 7 

ner, and without haste, pushing or any disorder. 
All play should cease at once on the giving of the 
signal for lining. The lines should be "dressed" 
by the teacher or a pupil standing at the end of 
the line, before the pupils are allowed to march in. 
The lining should be done by the glance of the 
pupils towards the end where the teacher stands, 
and not by placing the feet along any kind of a 
line. No talking should be allowed in line. Pu- 
pils should know their places in line, and should 
fix their relative positions by some mark or object 
in front of them so as to avoid crowding. 

2. Pupils should be taught to stand and walk 
with the heads erect, shoulders well back, hands at 
the sides and eyes to the front. — The habit of walk- 
ing with the hands behind, while it keeps the 
shoulders back, unfits the pupils for walking prop- 
erly on the street, in the drawing-room, or in the 
ranks when drilling. 

3. 7/ pupils are brought out in classes, they 
should stand in line, not lean against the wall, or 
on desks, etc. — In fact, whenever a pupil stands 
up in school he should stand on both feet and 
avoid leaning. 

4. It is wrong to tell pupils to "walk on their 
toes!' — This is very often done by young teachers 
in order to prevent noise. In fact, School Boards 
sometimes give directions in their rules to have 
pupils walk in this way. It is not right to do so : 



8 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

(1) because it makes pupils hobble; (2) because 
it leads to the turning in of the toes in an awk- 
ward manner; and (3) because it prevents an 
easy and elegant gait in walking. Pupils can 
walk naturally without making noise, if they are 
trained to move their feet with the toes turned 
outwards at an angle of about 45 degrees, and the 
sole parallel with the floor. The military ''bal- 
ance step" should be practiced for this purpose. 

5. They should be taught how to go up and down 
stairs. — Most pupils go up or down three steps, 
while they ought to go but one. Two or three 
lines can walk on a proper school stairway side 
by side, and thus no time will be lost by a steady 
uniform step. Rapidity of step is, however, by 
no means the worst evil in the walking of pupils 
on a stairway. It will take a great deal of care 
and watchfulness to secure proper lightness of 
step. Pupils are always inclined to stamp, when 
marching in time on a floor, or in any place where 
they can make a good deal of noise. They step 
as though striking snow from their heels in win- 
ter. In going downstairs they should be trained 
to gradually bend the leg, sustaining the weight 
at the knee, until the foot of the other leg reaches 
the next step below. 

6. They should be made to stand up to answer 
questions, or to read. — Politeness would require 
this. The change from the sitting posture will 



MISTAKES IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT 9 

be of great physical advantage to the pupils. The 
vocal organs have freer play when the pupil is 
standing than while sitting. Standing up should 
be done promptly. 

7. They should be taught to hold the book in 
the left hand when standing to read. — ' ' Book in left 
hand, right foot slightly drawn back," is the uni- 
form rule given by authorities for the position of 
a reader. If the book is held in both hands, it 
is usually brought much too close to the eyes, and 
the tendency is to round the shoulders. The right 
hand should be free to turn the pages, and to aid 
in the expression of thought by gesture. 

8. All work should be kept far enough from the 
eye. — Near-sightedness is on the increase. Statis- 
tics carefully, made in Europe and America show 
that, while only a fractional percentage of chil- 
dren are afflicted with myopia when they enter 
school, about 60 per cent, of those who leave it 
at eighteen are more or less affected by it. This 
is a startling statement, and ought to lead every 
humane teacher to consider what he can do to 
avert such a result. He can at least try to have 
plenty of light admitted to the schoolroom, only 
from the left side of the pupils, or from left to 
rear, and never from the front. He can also, by 
constant watchfulness, insist that the eyes should 
be kept far enough from slates, reading-books, 
copy-books, etc. 



10 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

9. Habits of neatness, cleanliness, and punctual- 
ity should be insisted on. — These may do more for 
the pupils than the mere knowledge imparted in 
school. No paper or rubbish of any kind should 
be allowed to litter the floor. Each pupil should 
be responsible for the part of the floor nearest to 
his own desk. The teacher should frequently ex- 
amine the desks of his pupils to see that they ar- 
range their books properly. The teacher should 
be a model in this respect, by keeping the win- 
dow-sills free from accumulations, and by arrang- 
ing the books on his desk in an orderly manner. 
Clothing should be carefully hung up, and all 
maps, charts, pictures, etc., should hang "on the 
square. ' ' 

10. The pupils should have a uniform method of 
performing class operations. — "Oh, dear! you will 
destroy their originality, and make them mere 
machines by compelling them to do everything in 
a fixed way." So talk some teachers who are 
unable to control their classes, and have there- 
fore to find some excuse for their neglect. Does 
system prevent the exercise of originality? Will 
methodical habits cramp the "free exercise of in- 
dividuality"? Any originality or individuality so 
trammeled must be of an evil nature which ought 
to be restricted. 

Pupils should place slates and books on their 
desks in exactly the same way. There must be 



MISTAKES IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT 1 1 

one way, which is less noisy and more appropriate 
than others. Let the teacher decide on the best 
plan of doing the work, and then carry it out in 
the most regular manner. There should be an un- 
varying signal for each movement, for standing 
up, sitting down, taking and returning slates and 
books, opening books, taking positions, and begin- 
ning work. No second step should be taken un- 
til the first has been definitely performed by all. 
Uniformity and precision in movement can never 
be secured without a proper word of command. 
The command should be given in a full, firm, 
definite tone, but not too loud, and it must abso- 
lutely consist of two parts, the first to arouse to 
readiness, the second as the signal for executing 
the movement. Between the two words of com- 
mand a decided pause should be made, and the 
second word should be more definite than the first ; 

as, " stand up." School movements should 

not be performed merely for show. The aim 
should be to save time, avoid noise, and make the 
will-action definite. 

2. It is a Mistake to Omit Yard Supervision. — 
Pupils who are controlled in the yard are more 
easily managed in the schoolroom. If children 
learn evil habits or hear impure or profane lan- 
guage at school, they do so chiefly during the re- 
cesses. The presence of the teacher in the play- 
ground should restrain what is wrong, without in 



12 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

any way checking the interest in healthful sports 
and innocent recreation. Rough games which in- 
terfere with the comfort of those engaged in them, 
or endanger the limbs of those who are playing, 
would not be indulged in under the eye of the 
teacher. Without marching up and down with 
the air of a soldier on guard, he prevents wanton 
destruction of school property, or intentional in- 
jury to clothing, such as kicking of hats, and se- 
cures due attention to propriety of language and 
courtesy of manner. The absence of the teacher 
for a quarter of an hour, during the arithmetic 
lesson, would not be so serious a neglect of duty 
as absence from the playground during recess. 

3. It is a Mistake for the Teacher to Hold Him- 
self Aloof from his Pupils while they are Playing. 
— The presence of the teacher in the yard should 
have a double effect; it should repress the evil 
and develop the good. The child never reveals 
his whole nature as he does when playing. His 
physical, mental, and moral powers are all called 
then into vigorous exercise. In the playground 
the boy begins to learn how to struggle with his 
fellowmen in the great battle of life. His strength 
and his weakness both manifest themselves there, 
so that it pays to study him. 

The teacher who fails to recognize these facts 
and make the most of them never becomes thor- 
oughly acquainted with his pupils, and fails to 



MISTAKES IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT 13 

obtain his most natural and most complete con- 
trol over them. How important then, that, instead 
of checking the playful spirit of innocent and 
healthful childhood, the teacher should have suffi- 
cient sympathy for it to develop it and turn it 
into right channels. What true dignity there is, 
too, in the playing of the full-grown man with the 
head of an adult and the heart and spirit of a boy ! 
How different is this genuine dignity from the 
enamelled variety which cannot bend without 
cracking, and exposing the coarser or weaker ma- 
terial beneath. The teacher who cannot play with 
his pupils without "putting on the brakes" is to 
be pitied. One of the most valid reasons for not 
placing large boys in the charge of a female 
teacher is, that she cannot, as a rule, take part 
in their games and exercises. 

4. It Is a Mistake to Stand too Near the Class. 
— Whether in the schoolroom or in the yard, the 
teacher should take such a position as will enable 
him to see every pupil at the same time. He 
should retain this position without fail when ' ' lin- 
ing" or "drilling" in the yard. 

5. It is a Mistake to take hold of a Pupil to 
put him in his place in Line. — If the teacher stands 
so as to see all his pupils at the same time he 
cannot make this grievous error. To push or pull 
a boy into position arouses in him only bad feel- 
ings. He may be roused to resistance, in which 



14 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

case the teacher is certain to lose in dignity, and 
may have to injure the pupil in order to make 
him submit. It is wrong for even a primary 
teacher to place her children in position with 
her hands, however kindly she may do it. The 
movements of pupils should be guided by their 
own wills. The teacher should train, and when 
necessary direct, the will of the pupil. He should 
never do the work that should be done by the 
will of the pupil. There is no orderly, well-man- 
aged class in which the pupils' bodies are moved 
into position by the hands of the teacher. 

6. It is a Mistake to give many Demerit Marks. 
— There are continual showers of bad marks in 
some classes. Bad marks for conduct and bad 
marks for lessons. The teachers of such classes 
often complain that " their pupils do not attend 
to the marks given." It would be surprising if 
they did, or their parents either. If the worst 
pupil in a well-organized school receives more 
than two or three unsatisfactory marks in a month 
there is cause for alarm. The teacher should feel 
ashamed. He has been giving marks to save him- 
self trouble, or because he is afraid to grapple 
with a troublesome case in the right way. 

If a large number of bad marks have to be 
given for lessons, it is the teacher 's fault in nearly 
all cases. The lessons are too difficult or too long ; 
sufficient explanation has not been given; or else 



MISTAKES IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT 



15 



the pupils have not been taught how to study, or 
have not had proper incentives to study laid earn- 
estly before them. The best teachers do least 
marking. 

7. It is a Mistake to Censure Trifling Errors 
too Severely. — Some teachers pour out their 
"vials of wrath' ' to the last drop on the heads 
of those whose offences are not of a very serious 
nature. Their sternest countenance and hardest 
language are called into requisition to find fault 
with the little unfortunate who carelessly lets fall 
his slate, or turns to look at his neighbor behind 
him. Such teachers place themselves in an awk- 
ward position, for they are unable to adapt the 
severity of their censure to the circumstances of 
the case. This has a confusing effect on the moral 
natures of children, by leading them to believe 
that all offences are equally grave in their nature. 

It is of the utmost importance that the teacher 
should never confound the accidental with the in- 
tentional, or thoughtlessness with design. 

8. It is a Mistake to Complain or Grumble 
Much. — If there is one teacher who more than 
any other is certain to be disliked by pupils, par- 
ents, and trustees, it is the inveterate grumbler. 
He would dislike himself if he had the honor of 
his own thorough acquaintance. He does not 
know how tiresome his complaining becomes. "I 
never had such bad pupils in my life; I do not 



16 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

know whatever to do with them," he says, when 
someone in authority visits his school; and his 
pupils despise him for it, as they do the tale- 
bearer of their own age. His visitor, too, regards 
him with pity, as one who seems to glory in his 
own utter weakness or incompetence. Children in 
civilized communities are very much alike in their 
characteristics. Every class is an open book in 
which may be read at a glance the executive 
power and the definiteness or indefiniteness of the 
ideals of the teacher. No class will long continue 
orderly or progressive of its own accord, but on 
the other hand, there is no class that does not like 
being orderly and studious, when managed by a 
good teacher. No rational teacher will ever blame 
the class for disorder or idleness. 

No teacher who scolds, or sneers, or grumbles, 
can ever have the sympathy of his pupils, and 
without it he can never control them, or secure 
their best efforts in their school work. He who 
recognizes, appreciates, and judiciously commends 
the feeble efforts of his pupils, will be certain by 
this means to induce greater zeal and earnestness. 

9. It is a Mistake to Detain Pupils in the School- 
room during Recess. — They have a right to get out 
for rest, and change, and exercise. Pupils should 
not be allowed to remain in the schoolroom dur- 
ing recess, even should they wish to do so, unless 
the weather is unfavorable. Old and young, male 



MISTAKES IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT 1 7 

and female, should take the opportunity of play- 
ing in the fresh air, due precaution as to clothing, 
etc., being taken when the weather is cold. 

During cold weather, those who have any chest 
affections may be permitted to remain in and rest, 
but they should be allowed to move around the 
room in an orderly manner. In graded schools 
one room should be set apart for all who are per- 
mitted to remain in. 

If the weather is too severe for the class to go 
out, the relaxation should be taken as usual. The 
time may be devoted to physical exercises, the 
windows being open for ventilation. Pupils may 
be allowed to walk around the room in couples in 
an orderly procession, conversing as they walk. 
The teacher may tell a story, or allow a pupil to 
tell or read one. The news of the day may be 
discussed, but the teacher should be the directing 
power always at indoor recesses. 

10. It is a Mistake to Invoke Higher Author- 
ity Except as a Last Resort. — Assistant teachers 
often send for the headmaster to settle trivial af- 
fairs. Wise headmasters will, of course, prohibit 
such folly. A principal cannot afford to neglect 
his own class to obey all the calls of weak or 
whimsical assistants. If a teacher could only re- 
alize how he humiliates himself in the eyes of his 
pupils by unnecessary appeals to the headmaster 
or the trustees, he would adopt that means of es- 



1 8 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

caping from a difficulty on very rare occasions. 
How can pupils be expected to respect a teacher 
who becomes merely a self-appointed spy, to 
watch for wrong-doing in order that he may call 
in a higher authority to inflict punishment? 

11. It is a Mistake to Confound Giving Infor- 
mation or Evidence with Tale-bearing. — There are 
many things which a teacher ought to know, 
which he cannot possibly learn without the as- 
sistance of his pupils. No proper rule should be 
intentionally violated without the matter being 
brought to the teacher's knowledge. Some teach- 
ers hedge their pupils in with so many cramping 
rules that they cannot be natural and indulge in 
healthful boyish amusements without constant 
terror of breaking some of them. The rules for 
the guidance of pupils, when not under the eye 
of the teacher should be few, and should relate 
to the protection of property, or the suppression 
of vice. If school-property is injured, defaced, or 
destroyed, or if the purity or morality of the pu- 
pils generally is endangered by the continued bad 
language or bad habits of a few, it is of the high- 
est importance that the teacher should be made 
acquainted with the facts of the case. To give 
information in a case of this nature is in no way 
related to " tale-bearing" in the usual meaning of 
that term. " Tale-bearing' ' means giving informa- 
tion from mean motives ; to expose a rival or to se- 



MISTAKES IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT 19 

cure his punishment. On the other hand, to give 
proper information requires the highest moral 
courage, and frequently necessitates self-sacrifice 
for the general good. It is much better, however, 
for the moral development of the pupils, if the 
teacher can lead to the formation of such a feel- 
ing among the pupils themselves as will lead to 
the independent suppression of vicious practices 
when the teacher is not present. 

There are some people who condemn as un- 
manly the giving of information, when asked for 
by the teacher conducting an investigation into 
some case of wrongdoing. "Whatever may be the 
opinion held in regard to the voluntary giving 
of information, there certainly is only one. right 
view in which to regard the pupil's duty, when 
required to give evidence by his teacher. "Un- 
manly" indeed! Is it unmanly for a witness to 
give evidence in court? Is not the school a mini- 
ature world, and a teacher's investigation a school 
court ? 

While "tale-bearing" from mean and selfish 
motives ought to be condemned as unmanly and 
ungenerous in the extreme, the teacher will do 
well to spare no pains to develop a spirit of frank- 
ness and honor in his pupils, which will lead them 
to give him assistance in every proper way to con- 
trol evil when he is not present. 



20 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

Wise teachers never seek occasion for making 
investigations of a petty nature. 

12. It is a Mistake for the Teacher to be Late. 
— It sets the pupils a bad example, and is bad pol- 
icy. Pupils will certainly not be punctual, if the 
teacher is not. They will be guided by his actions 
instead of his words, or rather they will estimate 
the value he sets upon his own instructions by the 
way he follows them. He will thus lose his power 
over his pupils in one of the most important di- 
rections in which he can ever influence them. But 
it is bad policy for him to be late, even for his 
own sake. He should be at the school at least a 
quarter of an hour before the time for opening in 
summer, and half an hour in winter. If pupils are 
allowed to be disorderly in the schoolhouse before 
the arrival of the teacher, it need not surprise 
any one to find them difficult to control during 
school hours. Individual morning greeting for 
each pupil is one of the best ways for gaining an 
influence over the class. Their peculiarities of 
temperament may be recognized and treated bet- 
ter in the morning than at any other time during 
the day. 

13. It is a Mistake to be Careless about Per- 
sonal Habits.— The teacher should be in all re- 
spects a model for his pupils. His manner and 
habits are sure to be imitated by them. The best 
lessons he can give on cleanliness and tidiness are 



MISTAKES IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT 21 

not lectures, but good examples. He should be 
more than a pattern, however. He should talk a 
little about manners, habits, methods of dressing, 
etc., and he should act a good deal. Inspection, 
without being a formal ceremony, ought invaria- 
bly to be made daily. The boots may be noticed 
in line before school ; the faces and dress at the 
first "Good morning" glance; and the hands and 
nails during writing hour. All may be noted with- 
out having a set time for critical inspection. De- 
linquents, after having been carefully warned pre- 
viously, ought to be sent out to attend to the mat- 
ters neglected. If it be a small matter it may be 
attended to in the lobby, where the school appara- 
tus for washing, etc., is kept. If a pupil often 
fails in any particular he should be sent home, 
after the matter has been brought to the notice 
of the parents. All parents, whose good opinion 
is worth having, will be under an obligation to a 
teacher who calls their attention in a considerate 
way to any bad habits on the part of their chil- 
dren. 

14. It isi a Mistake to Sit Much while Teaching. 

— It is better for the health to stand and move as 
much as may be done without disturbing the class. 
The ceaseless tramp, tramp, of some teachers while 
speaking to their pupils should be avoided. A 
teacher has more control of his class when stand- 



22 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

ing than while seated. He is also certain to be 
more lively and energetic in teaching. 

Of course, if he feels wearied, he should sit 
down for a while. Ladies especially should rest 
by sitting. 

15. It is a Mistake to give a Command when a 
Suggestion will do Instead. — Suggest and recom- 
mend any improvement in dress, style, manner, 
conduct, or in any department of school work or 
management, giving reasons in a clear manner, 
and at least one-half of your pupils will carry out 
your suggestion, either to please you, or because 
they are convinced that they will be benefited by 
doing so. With one-half on your side, it will 
not be very difficult to establish a public opinion 
in a quiet way (the quieter the better) in favor of 
the change. The seeds having been planted, let 
them grow. You only need to be patient and the 
good work will spread. Probably only two or 
three in a school will require much pressure to 
lead them to do what is desired if the teacher 
manages with tact. 

16. It is a Mistake to Allow Pupils to be Fre- 
quently Troublesome without Notifying their 
Parents. — It is an axiom that parents and teachers 
should work in harmony. So far as is possible and 
judicious, the school discipline should correspond 
to that of the home. The teacher should respect 
the rights and opinions of the parents, and they 



MISTAKES IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT 23 

in turn should sustain the authority of the 
teacher. These desirable ends can only be se- 
cured by some system of communication between 
the parties concerned. 

There are always in a school a few pupils who, 
without being guilty of any offences of a very 
serious character, give the teacher a vast amount 
of trouble. No other class of pupils causes so 
much worry and annoyance as these, and after a 
time it often becomes necessary to take decided 
action and administer punishment of some kind. 
The punishment, whether by suspension or other- 
wise, is of course much too great for the last act 
of wrong-doing. The last transgression is merely 
"the last straw that breaks the camel's back," 
the penalty "covers a multitude of sins." The 
parent of the offending child makes enquiry as to 
the cause of the punishment, and receives from 
his own child or from others, if he asks them, a 
statement of the last offence only. He naturally 
concludes that the teacher is unreasonably severe, 
if not excessively unjust; and, unfortunately, in 
too many cases, he expresses his opinions in an 
emphatic manner in the presence of his child. 
Sometimes indeed, he makes known his sentiments 
in a highly dramatic manner before the whole 
school. In either case the result must be a loss 
of respect for the teacher on the part of his pupils. 
Nor can the parent be blamed for the difficulty, 



24 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

unless he has been faithfully notified of the previ- 
ous wrong-doings of his child, as they accumu- 
lated. These notifications should be on paper, 
and they should be returned to the teacher signed 
by the parent, and kept for reference when neces- 
sary. If the pupil is old enough it is preferable 
that he should write the note according to direc- 
tions given by the teacher. This will save the time 
of the teacher, and have a good effect on the 
pupil. Of course, in most cases, such a note should 
be signed by the teacher, not the pupil. Occasion- 
ally, the communication may be from the child 
himself. 

17. It is a Mistake to Annoy Parents Unneces- 
sarily. — When calling the attention of parents to 
any bad behavior of their children, or notifying 
them of any carelessness, or inattention to the 
cleanliness or tidiness of their dress or persons, 
the teacher is often unnecessarily sharp and un- 
kind in his language. So far as it is possible to 
avoid it, the feelings of parents should not be 
wounded at any time by the teacher. He cannot 
hope to govern his class easily and in a proper 
way, unless he has the sympathy of the parents, 
and he cannot have that if he is discourteous or 
inconsiderate towards them. Conciliation should 
be his motto. Kespectful or even deferential in- 
terviews or correspondence will work wonders in 
awakening an interest in school matters on the 



MISTAKES IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT 25 

part of parents, and in securing their co-operation 
and support. The teacher who can say to a pa- 
rent, ' ' I regret that Tom is absent so frequently ; 
he is a bright boy, and it is worth a great effort 
on your part to send him regularly/' or "It is 
a pity such a good-looking boy as James should 
ever forget to wash his face and comb his hair," 
will readily secure his object, without in any way 
making the parents feel humiliated. The "bright" 
and "good-looking" will never seem out of place 
to the parents, and they remove the sting from 
the teacher's complaint. 

18. It is a Mistake to Show Temper in Dealing 
with Parents. — Teachers will very often have 
great provocation to anger, on account of the 
injustice and sometimes the rudeness and im- 
pertinence of parents. They will write the most 
cruelly unjust accusations, and make the most 
bitter remarks about "paying taxes to keep the 
teacher in bread and butter," etc. They will 
even come to the school to browbeat and abuse the 
teacher. Under all these and similar circum- 
stances he is the best manager who shows a calm 
and deliberate nature. He cannot be blamed for 
feeling anger, but he must not show it. He should 
remember that the parent, in nearly every case, 
reasons correctly, according to the information 
he has received. He has heard only one side of 
the case, and that is usually greatly exaggerated, 



26 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

if not grossly misrepresented. True, he should 
not decide until he has heard both sides, but af- 
fection for his child, whom he regards as unjustly 
treated, and whose rights he as a parent is bound 
to maintain, makes him forget this. He receives 
the child's statements as facts, and naturally gets 
excited. It is safe to say that very few parents 
get angry at teachers without sufficient reason, if 
the child's evidence be taken as correct. Granted 
that the facts are as stated, the reasoning of 
parents is nearly always right, and their anger 
but the expression of their chivalrous feelings, as 
the natural protectors of their children. But the 
facts are not usually as related by pupils. With- 
out being guilty of any deliberate falsehood, they 
are not likely to give a correct account of a pun- 
ishment they have received, or any circumstances 
with which they are directly connected. Herein 
lies the secret of the teacher's power over angry 
parents, if he uses it judiciously. 

If an indignant parent finds an angry teacher, 
he receives the clearest proof possible that the 
teacher is unreasonable; and is certain to obtain 
sufficient evidence to corroborate his child's state- 
ments. An angry teacher will do as any other 
angry person does. He will be sure to say some- 
thing unkind or unjust, and in this way give the 
parent, what he had not before, a good ground for 
complaint. 



MISTAKES IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT 27 

If the teacher is cool, and in correspondence or 
by personal interview shows the parent that his 
child's version is incorrect, his victory is speedily 
secured, and one such victory is sufficient. A 
parent so convinced is convinced forever. Now, 
no teacher can make a parent believe his child to 
be guilty of misrepresentation, unless he first 
convinces him that he is absolutely impartial, and 
without the slightest trace of animosity or preju- 
dice against him. He cannot do this if he shows 
any temper in his dealings with the parent. If, 
however, his manner is firm but quiet, and his 
language definite but moderate, he at once re- 
lieves the parent of the impression that he has 
a prejudice against the child, and the matter is 
amicably settled. The teacher cannot achieve 
so complete a triumph in any other way. He 
does not merely defeat an enemy, he secures a 
friend. 

19. It is a Mistake to Dispute with an Angry 
Parent before the Class. — If the teacher gets 
angry too, the pupils witness an unseemly quar- 
rel ; if he does not, some of his class will think he 
is afraid. In either case the work of the school 
is interrupted, and the respect of the pupils for 
the authority of the teacher is lessened. They 
cannot regard his power as very great, if a parent 
may come and question it in an offensive and con- 
temptuous manner. If a parent comes for an ex- 



28 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

planation of any misunderstanding in regard to 
school management, the teacher should receive 
him courteously at the door, give his class some 
work to occupy it for a few minutes, and step 
outside to make the necessary explanation. If 
the parent is exceedingly unreasonable, the 
teacher should quietly inform him that his time 
must now be devoted to his class, but that if he 
will call again after school, or receive a call from 
him, he will gladly give the matter full consid- 
eration. 

20. It is a Mistake to make Spiteful Remarks 
before the Class about Notes received from Pa- 
rents. — It shows a petty spirit to do so, and allows 
the class to see that the teacher is annoyed by 
the remarks of the parents. His dignity is low- 
ered, and when his pupils are not in his presence 
they will laugh at him. It is unfair to parents to 
read their notes, or part of them, before a class. 
These notes are private communications, and as 
such they should be regarded as too sacred for 
public comment. 

21. It is a Mistake to neglect opportunities for 
arousing the Active Go-operative Interest of Par- 
ents in some School Enterprise. — Sympathetic 
interest, like every good, is best developed by 
activity. We are most interested in those persons 
or institutions for which we have done most. 
Devise as many reasonable ways as possible to 



MISTAKES IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT 29 

afford opportunities for parents to do something 
for or in connection with the school. Have annual 
picnics, games, drill and calisthenic exhibitions, 
tree and flower planting days, school processions, 
evening entertainments, etc., and give the parents 
some share in preparing for them and in carrying 
them out. Arouse an interest in a school library, 
a school museum, and school art. Be what every 
teacher, especially in rural districts, should be, 
the centre of inspiration towards intellectual and 
artistic culture for the district in which your 
school is situated. 



CHAPTER II 

Mistakes in Discipline 

22. It Is a Mistake to Try to Teach without 
having Good Order.— No teacher should think of 
teaching at all until he has established between 
himself and his class a perfect understanding re- 
garding this matter; until he has clearly shown 
his pupils that it is necessary that one person 
should be the centre of authority, and that he is 
the person entitled to that position by virtue of 
his office, his superior intelligence, experience 
and force of character. Without order in his 
affairs and among those he employs, no business 
man can hope to be successful. Without the per- 
fect order called discipline in an army it is a dis- 
organized mob, incapable, unmanageable, and at 
the mercy of its foes. Without order, pupils can- 
not give attention, without attention they cannot 
learn. The most important effect of order is its 
influence on the characters of the pupils. With- 
out order in a school, at least one-half a teacher's 
power is wasted, .partly through the inattention 
of the scholars, and partly in reducing the dis- 
order to what some teachers regard as endurable 

31 



32 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

limits. Experience has proved this, and therefore 
every good teacher insists on having good order 
before attempting to teach. "The husband who 
starts in his matrimonial career as lieutenant 
never gets promotion.' ' A teacher is rarely pro- 
moted in a school in which he has not earned his 
position at the close of the first day. There is 
a lamentable weakness about a teacher who al- 
lows his scholars to form the public opinion of 
his school, and establish its character independent 
of him. 

23. It Is a Mistake to confound "Securing 
Order' ' with "Maintaining Order." — Many teach- 
ers forget, when taking charge of a new class, 
that they are dealing with strangers, on whose 
sympathy and affection they have no claim. They 
often lose control of their pupils on the first day 
by practising the very principles which are of 
highest service in securing the best discipline. 
They appeal to instincts which are slumbering 
and to motives which, so far as they are con- 
cerned, have no existence. Pupils are at school 
on the opening day to study the "new teacher," 
not their lessons. Like their seniors, they will 
regard mysterious silence as profundity, and a 
self-contained manner as indicative of great re- 
serve power. No rational teacher should expect 
to win the love of his pupils at first sight. Dur- 
ing the first few days his great aim should be 



MISTAKES IN DISCIPLINE 33 

to show them by his actions and manner, not by- 
words, that he understands himself, his pupils, 
and their relations to each other. He is sure to 
make a good impression if he carries out the fol- 
lowing rules: 

1. He must be definite in all he says and does. 

2. He must give his pupils constant and varied 
work in their studies of a kind that they can do, 
not new work. Time tests in arithmetic and con- 
tests in working long examples in the simple 
rules, matches of various kinds, and other plans 
for inducing energetic work should be practiced 
freely during the first few days. The pupils 
must be occupied with work, and work they 
know how to do. They are never so happy as 
when so engaged. 

3. He must show that he can see everybody at 
all times, and that it is impossible to do wrong 
without being detected. 

4. While he should avoid punishing if possible, 
he must be decided in inflicting punishment for 
the repetition of an intentional offence. A pun- 
ishment promptly and coolly given on the first 
day may assist materially in doing away with 
punishment afterwards. 

5. He must prove that he is master of the 
subjects he has to teach. 

6. He should be alert, pleasant, unconvential 
and sympathetic. 



34 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

24. It Is a Mistake to Suppose that Children 
Like to Have their Own Way at School. — No 

greater mistake could be made. Children like 
order better than disorder. So would all grown 
people, if they had been properly trained at 
school. Children are most joyous and happy, and 
therefore most thoroughly educated, in those 
schools where the discipline is strict without be- 
ing severe. There is no quicker way for a teacher 
to lose the respect of his pupils than by over- 
indulging them. They will not chafe long under 
just restraint. Control develops reverence. 

25. It Is a Mistake to Think that Order Means 
Perfect Quiet or Stillness. — Many classes are 
quiet through sheer listlessness or dullness. What 
is needed in a school is the order of life, not the 
order of death. Order means having every child 
in the school attending to his own duty, and at- 
tending to it, of course, in the quietest possible 
manner. So long as no individual in a school is at- 
tending to another's business, or doing anything 
to attract the attention of any other person, effi- 
ciency should not be sacrificed for the sake of si- 
lence. A good breeze is all right if it does not 
come in squalls. Perfect order may be quite in 
harmony with a considerable amount of noise. 
In a factory, for instance, although the noise of 
machinery may be deafening, and the bustle of 
workmen may appear quite confusing to an out- 



MISTAKES IN DISCIPLINE 35 

sider, everything is usually in the most perfect 
order. Order does not necessarily mean repres- 
sion. The order needed in school is work sys- 
tematized. This is genuine order, the only kind 
that will last. 

26. It Is a Mistake to Try to Startle a Class 
into being Orderly.— Some teachers strike the 
desk; stamp on the floor; call "Order, order, 
order!" or ring a bell to cause quietness. A 
thunder-clap startles us into stillness for a few 
moments, but even thunder would soon lose its 
effect, if controlled by some teachers. Disorderly 
pupils should be directed, not terrified. It would 
be a poor way to calm a nervous child by firing 
a cannon near it. A teacher must be deliberate, 
not impulsive and explosive. If he wishes to 
secure good order, he must be orderly himself. 
Attention gained by making any sudden noise is 
only of a temporary kind. The noise of the pupils 
yields for a time, but very soon it re-asserts itself. 
To be valuable attention must be fixed. Teachers 
should, of course, never forget that giving fixed, 
active attention is an exhaustive exercise, and 
that relaxation in some form — music, free gym- 
nastics, or both combined — should be given to 
pupils at frequent intervals. 

27. It Is a Mistake for the Teacher to try to 
Drown the Noise of his Pupils by making: a 
Greater Noise Himself. — Some teachers attempt 



36 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

to force out disorder by talking in a loud tone 
and in a high key. They may avoid hearing any 
noise except that made by themselves in this way, 
but they are certain to increase the noise made 
by their pupils. The pupils will have to speak 
louder in order to hear each other. A low tone 
is much more certain to produce quietness than 
a high tone. There are certain noises which 
render children nervous and irritable. The noise 
made in filing a saw, and that made by a teachef 
talking in a high key, are two of them. 

28. It Is a Mistake to Call for Order in General 
Terms, However Quietly it may be Done. — Dis- 
order always begins with one or two, and no 
rational teacher allows it to proceed until it has 
spread throughout the whole class before stopping 
it. It should be quieted as soon as it commences. 
This should be done by a meaning look, a question 
quietly asked, or in some natural way that will 
attract the attention of no person but the one 
immediately concerned. It is bad enough that the 
disorderly pupil should lose his time, without 
compelling the whole school to listen to an absurd 
method of quieting him. 

29. It Is a Mistake to be Demonstrative in 
Maintaining Discipline. — Some machines make a 
perpetual jarring noise while running. Some 
schools are disciplined in such a way as to make 
them really disorderly. Teachers are often dis- 



MISTAKES IN DISCIPLINE 37 

orderly in attempting to secure order. They may 
succeed in obtaining a kind of discipline, but they 
lose much valuable time in getting it; and when 
secured it lacks many of the beneficial influences 
of good discipline in forming the characters of 
the pupils. Visitors at schools will frequently 
hear the teachers cannonading their pupils with f 
such orders as these: "Take down your hand, 
sir"; "Turn around in your seat, James"; "Sit 
up, Mary"; "Attention, Susan"; etc. These are 
commands, and the wise teacher will never even 
make a request when a suggestion will accomplish 
his purpose. There is one result always notice- 
able in schools in which the teacher has to resort 
continually to the above method of controlling 
his class. His work is never done. The supply 
of disorder never runs out. In fact, he does not 
notice and check in most cases one-half the wrong- 
doing that goes on, and at its best the order of 
the pupils is only indifferent. Even if the best of 
order on the part of the class could be secured by 
such means, the disorder of the teacher would 
neutralize its good effects. 

There are classes always in order, whose 
teachers do not seem to be controlling them at all. 
The teacher is teaching and the pupils attending 
in a quiet and respectful manner, when a visitor 
enters, and he ieaves after a stay of a couple of 
hours without having heard a single child named 



38 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

in connection with the violation of a rule of any 
kind. The teacher was controlling the class, but 
neither class nor visitor was painfully conscious 
of the fact. 

"What causes the difference between the two 
classes? Is the noisy, restless, forgetful class to 
be blamed for its condition? Certainly not. The 
teacher is responsible in every sense. Let the 
two teachers exchange classes, and after a couple 
of weeks the pupils will have altered their char- 
acteristics. One teacher strives for order merely 
for its own sake, the other maintains discipline 
that he may teach. One talks, preaches, and 
scolds about order, and demands it with threats 
of impositions or punishments in case of refusal 
or neglect by the pupils; the other secures "the 
silent co-operation of natural laws, by good or- 
ganization, by careful forethought, and by quiet 
self-control. ' ' 

It may be said by some, that the power of gov- 
erning without apparent effort is a natural gift, 
possessed by few, and beyond the acquisition of 
those not so blest by nature. Undoubtedly some 
possess this power to a greater extent than others, 
but all may learn the principles that underlie 
good government; and no one should presume to 
teach, until he is able to practice those which are 
essential. 



MISTAKES IN DISCIPLINE 39 

The methods of securing order on first taking 
charge of a class may vary, as they will depend to 
a considerable extent on circumstances, but good 
discipline can only be maintained by the most 
careful attention to the physical comfort and the 
natural tendencies and characteristics of the chil- 
dren. 

30. It Is a Mistake to Use a Bell as a Signal 
for Order. — It is purely a time or movement sig- 
nal. Even the occasional ringing of the bell for 
order is a mistake. It disturbs every pupil, while 
perhaps only two or three are offending, and 
after a time loses its effect, because it speaks 
directly to no one, and gives in general terms to 
the whole class what should be given particularly 
to certain individuals. The bell is a valuable aid 
in securing discipline. It may be used with great 
profit instead of the teacher's voice, as a signal 
for commencing, changing, or closing exercises; 
or for standing up, sitting down, assembling, dis- 
missing, etc., but it never should be used to give 
a direct command for order. It should never con- 
vey a command that does not apply with equal 
force to each member of the school or class. 

31. It Is a Mistake to be Variable in Discipline. 
— Some teachers are intermittent in their exercise 
of " will-power. " They are fully charged with 
energy and force one day, but seem to have lost 
connection with their character batteries on the 



40 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

next. Steady, even, regular, uniform control is 
the kind required. In the schoolroom and in the 
yard the teacher's influence should be supreme, 
whether he himself is present or absent. He 
must never be a tyrant, he should always be a 
governor. 

He should carefully study his proper social and 
legal relationship to the pupils, their parents, 
and the school authorities. He should stand on 
a foundation of solid rock, and be ready for 
prompt action in cases of emergency. Promptness 
and deliberation should go hand in hand. 
Promptitude and haste or excitement are not 
synonymous. Hesitation and timidity on the part 
of a teacher will stir to life germs of rebellion 
which otherwise might have been left to die for 
lack of nutriment. 

While a teacher should always pay due respect 
and attention to the advice of his friends, he 
should never allow either the counsel of friends 
or the opposition of foes to make him deviate 
from the course which he knows to be the right 
and just one. Many men fail because when a 
wave of opposition meets them they feebly yield 
to its power and aimlessly drift with it; when 
if they had met it bravely and remained firm it 
would soon have passed them and left them better 
for its washing. The teacher may yield many 
times with profit to his school and himself, if he 



MISTAKES IN DISCIPLINE 4 1 

does it gracefully, but he can never do so when 
the question of control is at stake. He must then 
assert his "will-power" in a most determined 
manner, without making himself offensive or 
tyrannical. 

32. It Is a Mistake to be Satisfied with Order 
which Lasts Only while the Teacher is Present. — 

There are teachers who control their pupils mere- 
ly by the exercise of "will-power." It is neces- 
sary to do so sometimes, especially when the 
teacher has lately taken charge of the class. The 
teacher's "will-power" should always be held in 
reserve for an emergency, but he should control 
his class by the expenditure of the smallest pos- 
sible degree of it. His engine should not always 
be running at its highest pressure. The pupils 
have powers of self-control which require develop- 
ment; and they need to be trained to do right 
from a sense of duty, not merely from the con- 
sciousness of subordination to a superior will, or 
fear of punishment, when the teacher is present to 
detect the wrong. 

Many boys go astray after leaving home, be- 
cause they have been controlled by the sweetness 
of a mother's nature, or the strength of a father's 
will. In either case they were not acting on prin- 
ciple in doing right, and the element of self- 
government was not properly developed in them. 
Their restraining influences were external to 



42 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

themselves, hence they were rudderless on re- 
moving beyond the power of their controlling 
forces. 

The same result is found in many a school 
whose pupils are fairly orderly in the presence of 
the teacher, but uncontrolled when he leaves the 
room. The remedy is to be found in using influ- 
ences external to the pupil as sparingly as pos- 
sible, and developing to the fullest extent those 
which may be awakened in the pupil himself. 

33. It Is a Mistake to give an Order without 
Having it Obeyed by all to whom it is Given. — A 
great deal of disorder exists in some schools, be- 
cause the teacher while changing exercises, or 
dismissing his class, does not wait to have one 
order obeyed before giving another. Whether 
the signals be given by word of mouth, by num- 
bers, by touching a bell, or otherwise, every pupil 
should have fully completed the motion indicated 
by "one" before "two" is given. If any other 
course is adopted, confusion and disorder are 
inevitable, and the pupils learn to pay little atten- 
tion to the teacher's command. 

Obedience to an order and submission to a rule 
may be quite different. The one should be prompt 
and decided, the other should be intelligent and 
voluntary. 

34. It Is a Mistake to Treat Pupils as though 
they were Anxious to Violate the Rules of the 



MISTAKES IN DISCIPLINE 43 

School. — If a teacher does not respect his pupils, 
they will not respect him. Confidence is neces- 
sary on the part of both teacher and pupils. A 
threat implies that the teacher does not trust 
his pupils, and prevents the class having sympa- 
thy with him. "It is better to assume that your 
pupils will be eager to carry out your wishes, and 
so impose upon them the obligation of honor, 
than to take it for granted that the only motive 
which will deter them from disregarding your 
wishes will be the fear of a penalty." Blind 
confidence must, however, be distinguished from 
honest trust in those who have not proved un- 
worthy. 

35. It Is a Mistake to Make Too Many Rules.— 
Some teachers make so many rules that they 
cannot remember them themselves, Their pupils 
forget them, too, and violate them without in- 
tending any wrong. 

The breaking of a law should be a most serious 
offence. Children will not be very good citizens, 
if they regard the violation of laws as a trifling 
matter. They cannot avoid coming to this con- 
clusion, if a teacher has so many rules that he 
forgets to punish for neglecting them ; or if they 
are of so unimportant a character as not to com- 
mand the respect of the pupils. 

There should be a few cast-iron rules beginning 
with "Thou shalt," or "Thou shalt not." The 



44 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

rules should state general principles, and each one 
should cover a whole class of specific acts. 

Rules in detail should not be formulated in a 
code either written or printed. 

No rule should be issued until some wrong- 
doing makes it necessary. The very prohibition 
may suggest the wrong course to the pupils. 

Pupils should learn rules as they should learn 
everything else, by experiencing the necessity for 
them, and by putting them in practice as they 
learn them. The rules that will be best learned, 
and most consistently obeyed, are those that are 
not spoken or written or printed, but regularly 
acted by the pupils under the guidance of a wise 
teacher. 

The pupils should have the reasons for rules 
explained to them so far as to enable them to see 
their justness; indeed, judicious teachers may 
allow their scholars to assist them in framing 
rules. 

While the teacher should issue as few restrain- 
ing rules as possible to his pupils, he must not 
neglect to define clearly their duties towards each 
other and to the school, nor to explain fully the 
nature and results of the offences which they 
commit. He should be especially careful to show 
that the evil of conscious violation of rules is 
more disastrous in its influence in weakening the 



MISTAKES IN DISCIPLINE 45 

will and conscience than in injuring the discipline 
of the school. 

36. It Is a Mistake to Speak in Too High a Key. 
— Probably no other error increases the fatigue 
of the teacher and the disorder of the class to 
so great an extent as this. Children soon cease to 
attend to a teacher with a loud voice pitched in 
a high key. It is not surprising that they do so. 
A loud voice soon becomes monotonous, and loses 
its influence in securing attention and order. It 
has, indeed, a positively injurious influence on a 
class in two respects: 

1. It induces a corresponding loudness and 
harshness of tone on the part of the pupils, and 
leads them to speak and read in a forced, unnatu- 
ral manner. In this way their voices lose all their 
sweetness and half their influence. "Loudness," 
says Emerson, "is always rude, quietness always 
genteel." 

2. It produces an irritating effect on the nerv- 
ous systems of children, which prevents their 
being quiet and attentive. 

The voice should be pitched rather below than 
above the natural key, and used with only mod- 
erate force in the schoolroom. It is then much 
more impressive than a high, loud voice, and infi- 
nitely more effective in securing good discipline. 
Children will learn much more rapidly, too, if 



46 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

the teacher speaks in a quiet, conversational 
tone. 

It must be remembered, however, that weakness 
of voice must not be confounded with good mod- 
ulation. Weakness of voice indicates some cor- 
responding weakness in body or character. 
Proper modulation, on the contrary, conveys the 
impression that the speaker thoroughly under- 
stands himself and his surroundings, and has a 
large amount of reserve force ready for any 
emergency. Decision and sternness are not syn- 
onymous. 

37. It Is a Mistake to try to Force Children to 
sit Still even for Half an Hour in the Same Posi- 
tion. — It is right to insist that all the pupils shall 
sit in a uniform position while engaged at the 
same lesson. It is wrong even to allow them to 
sit for a minute in ungraceful or unhealthful 
positions. The teacher cannot be too exacting in 
these particulars, but the same position should not 
be continued too long. This is especially true in 
the case of little children, whose bones are not 
hardened. The muscles will weary of sustaining 
the weight of the body in any position too long, 
and the weight being thrown on the flexible bones 
will bend them out of their proper shape. 

The judicious teacher will not attempt to 
restrain the restlessness of junior children, but 
give it a natural outlet. There is no other outlet 



MISTAKES IN DISCIPLINE 47 

so good as light calisthenic exercises, or plays 
accompanied by singing. These are exceedingly 
interesting to the pupils, and give the needed 
exercise and change to the muscles that have been 
wearied in one position. 

38. It Is a Mistake to Allow Undirected Play in 
the Schoolroom. — There are many stormy days, 
when no reasonable teacher would compel his 
pupils to go out at recess. Instead of doing so, 
it is the custom in good schools to allow the pu- 
pils to have their recess in the schoolroom. It is 
desirable that a recess should be given for relaxa- 
tion from study. The hygienic laws relating to 
both mind and body demand frequent rests from 
labor. If they were more frequent in schools, 
and of shorter duration, there would be more 
work, less scolding, and better order in them. 
Relaxation and unrestrained play are not synony- 
mous, however, nor is the one the natural conse- 
quence of the other. If children play as they 
choose in a schoolroom they are certain to make 
too much noise, and endanger the safety of desks 
and other school property. The worst effect of 
such a license is the loss of a proper feeling of 
respect for the schoolroom. While children 
should not regard the schoolroom as a place of 
solitary confinement, or look upon the teacher 
with dread, they should feel that there are pro- 
prieties of conduct and manner inseparably con- 
nected with entering the outer door of a school 



48 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

building. They should never be allowed to play 
unrestrictedly even in the halls of a schoolhouse. 
They may be allowed to converse, or even to move 
around the room in a quiet and regular manner. 
There is no harm, for instance, in pupils of the 
same sex walking in couples around the outside 
aisles during the recess, provided they all walk 
in procession in the same direction, and with a 
slow, measured step. Pupils may very properly 
be taught by the teacher to march at these times, 
or they may perform calisthenic exercises in time 
with singing. Promiscuous playing around the 
schoolroom should be prohibited also on the part 
of those pupils who wish to remain in at noon, or 
who arrive too early in the morning. It is best, 
if possible, to have assembly rooms in the base- 
ment of the building, but if these cannot be se- 
cured, one room should be set apart for a lunch 
or assembly room. A teacher should always have 
charge of it, and pupils should understand clearly 
that good behavior is the one condition on which 
they are allowed to remain in it. 

39. It Is a Mistake to Lose Sight of the Class. — 
Control asserts itself chiefly through the lip, the 
tongue and the eye. They should be used in the 
inverse order to that in which they are named. 
The eye should be the exclusive medium of con- 
trol, as far as possible ; the tongue may be called 
to its aid in cases of emergency; the lips should be 



MISTAKES IN DISCIPLINE 49 

used very sparingly. The lip expresses firmness, 
combined with scorn or contempt, and these are 
sure to stir up active antagonism, rather than 
submission. A pupil may be, and often is, forced 
to yield without full obedience. The eye alone 
can convey a message of power and conciliation 
at the same time, and these are the elements of 
genuine control. 

If a pupil feels that his teacher's eye is con- 
stantly and quietly taking note of all that is 
going on in his class, he cannot fail to be con- 
scious of its controlling power. Unless he is de- 
fiant or exceedingly thoughtless, he will need 
little more than the teacher's untiring and kindly 
eye to restrain him. The eye can be cultivated 
and its range of vision greatly widened. Few 
teachers have the power to see every pupil in a 
class of fifty at the same instant, but every 
teacher may acquire the ability to do so. It is 
astonishing to what extent clearness of lateral 
vision may be developed without rolling the eyes 
from side to side. The influence of the eye is 
neutralized by an uneasy, nervous movement or 
fixed stare. The seeing should be done without 
any apparent effort, but it should be done, and 
done unerringly. Even when using the black- 
board the teacher should avoid turning his face 
too long from his class. 



50 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

40. It Is a Mistake to get Excited in School.— 

A man opens the gates of his stronghold when 
he becomes angry. A teacher to exercise control, 
must be calm and patient. The quality of "will- 
power" is of great importance, the quantity of it 
at a teacher's disposal is of far more consequence. 
It must wear well. There is a dignity and a 
majesty in the patient assertion of the right and 
the ability to control, which never fails to com- 
mand respect. It is well, especially when taking 
charge of a new class, not to try to compel abso- 
lute order too suddenly. So long as pupils are 
really trying to do what the teacher wishes, he 
will, if a reasonable man, overlook slight offences, 
until good conduct has become a habit. 

Obedience on any terms is better than disobedi- 
ence, but willing obedience must be secured by 
the teacher if he wishes to benefit his pupils. If 
" will-power" is exerted in a noisy and violent 
manner, it is offensive ; if it is of the fussy kind, 
it excites ridicule. It must be calm, if it would 
secure control beneath whose placid surface no 
rebellion lurks in ambush. 

41. It Is a Mistake to Ridicule a Pupil. — It is 

wrong to do so for bad conduct, neglect of les- 
sons, or any breach of school discipline. The 
pupil so treated loses to a certain extent the re- 
spect of his classmates, and, what is of more con- 
sequence to himself, he frequently sinks in his 



MISTAKES IN DISCIPLINE 51 

own estimation. Sarcasm inflicts a poisoned 
wound which does not heal. No personal or 
family weakness or peculiarity ought to be pub- 
licly referred to by the teacher. Do not make a 
pupil lose his own self-respect, or expose him to 
contemptuous remarks by his companions. To 
ridicule a feeble attempt, may prevent a stronger 
effort. 

42. It Is a Mistake to Punish Without Explana- 
tion. — Teachers sometimes say, "Smith, take a 
misdemeanor mark," or "Mary, stay in at re- 
cess," or "Brown, hold out your hand," etc., 
without taking time to explain why the mark or 
the prohibition or the whipping should be given. 
1 ' It would waste too much time ; I could do very 
little else in my school, ' ' is the justification given 
for such a course. This answer is likely to be 
correct in schools in which such a method of 
punishment is adopted. The teacher who adopts 
such a course will soon have sufficient reason to 
conclude from his standpoint that explanations 
would waste time. 

Punishment is a judicial act, and it should be 
administered judiciously. A boy has a right to 
know w T hy he receives punishment, before the 
punishment is inflicted. 

If the teacher does not take the trouble to give 
him this explanation in a perfectly candid man- 
ner, he gives the pupil just cause for regarding 



52 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

him as a petty tyrant, who punishes merely for 
the personal gratification it affords him. Pun- 
ishment produces good results, not according to 
the amount of pain caused, but in proportion to 
the clearness with which pupils see the nature 
of the offence and the justness of the penalty. 
Pain by itself causes anger, resentment, and a 
desire for revenge; therefore no teacher should 
cause pain without taking care to neutralize its 
evil effects. Whipping alone is brutal and brutal- 
izing. A pupil who receives such treatment natu- 
rally grows sullen, and becomes doggedly resent- 
ful. He believes that his teacher has a dislike to 
him, and he cannot be blamed for coming to this 
conclusion. It is the teacher's fault. Parents 
get their impressions of the teacher from their 
children, and so he loses the confidence of both 
pupils and parents. There is nothing that par- 
ents so quickly resent as injustice to their chil- 
dren. Whether the injustice be real or imag- 
inary is not of the slightest consequence so long 
as the impression is made on their minds. The 
teacher's influence is often weakened, therefore, 
by causes which he has himself set in motion. 
He is shorn of more than half his power if the 
parents of his pupils lose confidence in his un- 
swerving justice. One of the quickest ways to 
secure the distrust of the public is to inflict pun- 
ishment of any kind and leave the pupil to decide 



MISTAKES IN DISCIPLINE 53 

its causes, as well as to suggest the teacher's mo- 
tive. 

It is well to remember that the pupil directly 
concerned is not the only one interested in the 
punishment. Great care should be taken to make 
the whole class see the fairness and justness of 
the punishment before administering it. They 
should not be allowed to think that they have a 
right to decide that punishment shall not be given 
by the teacher as he deems proper; but they 
should be led to understand very clearly, that the 
teacher punishes solely for the benefit of the indi- 
vidual and the general good, that his decisions 
are uniformly and impartially based on equitable 
principles, and that he is always ready to state 
his reason for awarding punishment of any kind. 
If the class does not approve of the punishment, 
evil results are produced. 

Punishment inflicted hastily will often be un- 
justly given. If the teacher cannot explain satis- 
factorily the reason for a punishment, he should 
doubt the propriety of imposing it. The attempt 
to state his reasons may often lead him to modify 
his decisions. Horace Mann says: "I confess 
that I have been amazed and overwhelmed to see 
a teacher spend an hour at the blackboard ex- 
plaining arithmetical questions, and another hour 
on the reading or grammar lesson, and in the 
meantime, as though it were only some interlude, 



54 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

seize a boy by the collar, drag him to the floor, 
castigate him, and remand him to his seat; the 
whole process not occupying two minutes." A 
certain amount of formality should accompany 
the infliction of punishment. 

If marks be given, the marking-sheet on which 
are entered the marks for misconduct or imper- 
fect lessons, should always be hung near the door, 
so that the pupils in passing may see at a glance 
if any mark has been accidentally or incorrectly 
placed opposite their names. Only in this way 
can full confidence be established in the accuracy 
of monthly reports to parents. 

43. It Is a Mistake to Whip for Disciplinary 
Purposes Merely. — Whipping should be used as 
a reformatory agent only. The teacher who re- 
sorts to frequent whipping, as a means of secur- 
ing discipline, is either excessively lazy or weak. 
He can have very little tact or will-power. The 
good order of the classes varies with the amount 
of whipping done, in inverse ratio. Much whip- 
ping, bad order; little whipping, better order; 
least whipping, best order. This will be found to 
be the experience of all who have given the ques- 
tion a fair trial. There are some who have relied 
for many years solely on whipping, and who have, 
therefore, no other means of control but the cane. 
They and their pupils are to be pitied. They 



MISTAKES IN DISCIPLINE 55 

were never qualified or trained to perform the 
high duties of teachers. 

When teachers have properly studied child life 
and their own higher powers of guiding it, chil- 
dren will not be subjected to the indignity of 
corporal punishment. Corporal punishment can 
never be the best means of reforming a child's 
character. Whipping is the most ineffectual 
means for developing the image of God in a child. 

44. It Is a Mistake to Whip Pupils in a Merely 
Formal Manner. — Some teachers hold that the dis- 
grace of receiving punishment constitutes its chief 
restraining power. This is a grievous error. If 
the opinion were a correct one it would be one 
of the strongest reasons against corporal punish- 
ment. It is certainly not the teacher's aim to 
bring disgrace on his pupils. Boys laugh at the 
credulity of a master, who takes it for granted 
that they feel intensely humiliated by a whipping. 

45. It Is a Mistake to Punish by Pulling a 
Child's Ears, Slapping his Cheeks, etc., etc. — 
Punishment should subdue. The horrible idea 
that the chief object of punishment is to cause 
pain is not accepted by modern teachers. The 
punishments referred to above always cause re- 
bellious feelings, and nothing but the comparative 
weakness of the pupil ever prevents his prompt 
resentment of such an indignity by the personal 
chastisement of the teacher. Such punishments 
are improper — 



56 



MISTAKES IN TEACHING 



1. Because they indicate haste, bad temper 
and inhumanity on the part of the teacher. 

2. Because they are inflicted without any 
previous explanation to the pupils of their neces- 
sity and justness. Explanation should precede 
punishment. 

No teacher should ever torture his pupils by 
pinching, etc., or by compelling them to keep 
the body in an unnatural position. 

46. It Is a Mistake to Allow Whispering on 
the Plea of "Allowing Pupils to assist Each 
Other.*' — Whispering during study hours is an 
unmitigated evil, and those who permit it commit 
a grievous error. There are some who, seeking 
for a justification of what they are too weak or 
too indolent to prohibit, defend whispering on 
the plea that "pupils should be allowed to assist 
each other in their work." This plan is falla- 
cious, for two reasons: 

1. Whispering cannot be restricted to the limit 
named. 

2. Children cannot teach each other well. 

Is the art of teaching so simple that every child 
is capable of practicing it? No, indeed. Few 
adults naturally possess the power of teaching, 
and it requires a long and careful course of train- 
ing to make a man of average ability and good 
culture even a fair teacher. How ridiculous then 
to allow every pupil to assume the duties of a 



MISTAKES IN DISCIPLINE 57 

teacher, when he chooses. But, if the plea is a 
good one, we must allow all pupils the privilege, 
for it will not do to show partiality. There can 
be no favored few with unsealed lips, while those 
of others are locked. 

What good would result, even in the higher 
classes, if the pupils were allowed to assist each 
other? Brown cannot work his example, and 
calls on Smith, who sits beside him, for help. 
Smith tells him what to do. Has Brown been de- 
veloped in any way by the process? Will he al- 
ways have Smith at his side through life to tell 
him when to multiply, divide, etc., in solving his 
business problems ? 

The teachers who allow this telling process to 
be performed by their pupils would be shocked to 
find them copying from each other, while solving 
their problems. Wherein lies the difference? 
Telling is a noisy method of copying. Their re- 
sults, so far as securing answers and the mental 
growth of the pupils, are the same. If either plan 
has the advantage in securing the advancement of 
the pupil, it is undoubtedly copying, because 
Brown must do more work for himself if he 
copies, than if he is told by Smith. Copying is 
also the quieter method, and of the two evils is 
decidedly the less objectionable. 

47. It Is a Mistake to Continually Repress the 
Activities of Childhood. — There are three classes 



58 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

of educators. One dams up the fountains of the 
free tendencies of childhood, and turns the stag- 
nant waters back upon the childlife, so that they 
drown it out ; another goes to the other extreme, 
and says, "Let Dame Nature have her way un- 
restrained, let childhood unfold itself." He lets 
the waters flow freely enough, but unfortunately 
they sometimes have a natural tendency to flow 
in wrong directions. Like real water, they flow 
down hill, and far too frequently transform what 
might have been a fertile valley into a marsh. 
The proper method recognizes the necessity of a 
full development of the natural faculties and 
the free exercise of them, but gives them direc- 
tion without seeming to do so. It selects the 
channel in which the stream should flow, and in- 
clines each little rill of character in that direction, 
so that as the stream flows onward it gains more 
breadth and depth and momentum, until it be- 
comes a mighty river, bearing on its bosom 
freights of blessing toward the great sea of life. 

Some teachers are horrified if pupils laugh in 
the schoolroom. The discipline that cannot stand 
a good laugh frequently is unnatural and un- 
sound. Giggling and tittering should be forbid- 
den as unbecoming, but a genuine hearty laugh, 
indulged in by both teacher and pupils for a 
proper reason, may be repeated often with the 
best results to the discipline of the school. 






CHAPTER III 

Mistakes in Method 



48. It Is a Mistake to Ask Questions of Pupils 
in Rotation. — Many commence at the head of the 
class, facing the pupil there, and after question- 
ing him as though he were the only pupil in the 
class, they deal with number two in a similar 
manner, and so on to the end of the class, if 
happily that be reached before the time for clos- 
ing the lesson. They can teach but one at a time. 
The class of such a teacher should consist of one 
little pupil, so that he could see the whole of it 
at once. If questions are asked in rotation, a 
pupil, after answering his question, may discuss 
the circus, or the last lacrosse match, or the next 
baseball match, or any other topic that may 
chance to come into his mind, until his turn is 
coming again. It is impossible to maintain good 
order in a natural way by such a method of ques- 
tioning. 

49. No Pupil Should Ever Know who Is Likely 
to be Asked a Question until it has been Stated.— 

59 



60 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

No name should be mentioned, no motion made or 
look given, to indicate who is to answer, until 
the question has been asked. Many teachers 
while proposing a question, make the mistake of 
looking steadily at the pupil whom they expect 
to answer. This should be so carefully avoided 
as to leave every pupil completely in the dark as 
to the intentions of the teacher. Each pupil 
should know that he may be asked to answer 
every question. Everyone will thus be compelled 
to attend. 

50. It Is a Mistake to Repeat a Question for 
the Sake of those who do not Hear it the First 
Time. — To do so is simply an extra inducement 
to the scholars to be inattentive. If a pupil 
knows that your question is only to be asked once, 
he will listen to it the first time. If he knows 
that, when you wish him to answer, you will shake 
him to get his attention, and then repeat your 
question, he will wait for the shaking. A pupil 
deserves reproof for not knowing the question 
more than for not being able to give its answer. 

51. It Is a Mistake to Look Fixedly at the Pupil 
who is Reading or Answering. — If there is one 
pupil who does not need watching, he is the one. 
He is certain to be attending to his work. We 
should attend to him with the ear, to all others 
with the eye. Many teachers, while teaching a 
reading lesson, divide their attention about equal- 



MISTAKES IN METHOD 6 1 

ly between their book and the pupil who is read- 
ing. Such teachers never have good order or 
interested classes, A good teacher will not watch 
closely either the book or the pupil reading. 

52. It Is a Mistake to be the Slave of any Text- 
books, — The teacher should understand principles, 
not certain statements, or rules, or examples. 
The teacher who merely hears recitations of 
words prepared in a text-book has a poor esti- 
mate of his true function. The pupils should be 
trained to do independent study by using their 
text-books, and the teacher should test the results 
of their study by requiring them to make a prac- 
tical use of it. He should not be satisfied with 
knowing that they can use it with their tongues 
only. The text-book can never be a substitute for 
the teacher. 

53. It Is a Mistake to Assign Lessons without 
Previously Explaining Them. — One of our most 
important duties as teachers is to teach children 
how to study, and what to study most carefully^ 
in connection with each lesson. To assign a 
lesson to a child without giving him some idea of 
its leading features; what you will expect him 
to know, or explain or prove next day; and how 
and where he can obtain most light on difficult 
parts, seems a good deal like sending him into a 
wilderness to fetch something he has never seen, 
and which you have not even described to him. 



62 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

54. It Is a Mistake to Assign Much Home Work 
to Young Children.— The youthful mind should 
not be forced to make too great or too long con- 
tinued effort in study. If a child's brain is act- 
ively employed for five or six hours per day in 
school, it must have nearly reached the "fatigue 
point" beyond which mental exertion is positively 
injurious. Physically and mentally it is better 
for the child to have but little home study until 
he reaches the age of thirteen or fourteen. Home 
study at any period should consist of work which 
the child can do for himself without the aid of 
the teacher. By doing it at home school time is 
saved and the pupil is allowed to do his fair share 
of the work of learning. It is of vital importance, 
however, that neither the ambition of the teacher 
nor the vanity of the parents should be allowed 
to dwarf the intellects of children by forcing 
them to make too great or too constant mental 
effort while young. There is no doubt that the 
majority of those who have attended the average 
school have had their faculties blunted by such a 
course. Professor Huxley says: "The educational 
abomination of desolation of the present day is 
the stimulation of young people to work at high 
pressure by incessant and competitive examina- 
tions. Some wise man (who probably was not an 
early riser) has said of early risers, in general, 
that they are conceited all the forenoon, and 



MISTAKES IN METHOD 63 

stupid all the afternoon. Now, whether this is 
true of early risers in the common acceptation of 
the word, or not, I will not pretend to say; but 
it is too often true of the unhappy children who 
are forced to rise too early in their classes. They 
are conceited all the forenoon of life, and stupid 
all its afternoon. The vigor and freshness which 
should have been stored up for the purposes of 
the hard struggle for existence in practical life, 
have been washed out of them by precocious 
mental debauchery, by book-gluttony and lesson- 
bibbing. Their faculties are worn out by the 
strain put upon their callow brains, and they are 
demoralized by worthless, childish triumphs be- 
fore the real work of life begins. I have no com- 
passion for sloth, but youth has more need for in- 
tellectual rest than age ; and the cheerfulness, the 
tenacity of purpose, the power of work, which 
make many a successful man what he is, must 
often be placed to the credit, not of his hours ofv 
industry, but to that of his hours of idleness, in 
boyhood." 

55. It Is a Mistake to Assign a Lesson Without 
Testing the Class to See Whether They Prepared 
it or not. — To do so, gives pupils systematic train- 
ing in neglect of duty. The act of assigning a 
lesson should convey to the minds of the pupils, 
without any words to that effect, the statement, 
"I will examine you on this portion of work at 



64 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

our next lesson on this subject." Some teachers 
even forget or neglect to call for written exer- 
cises assigned for home work. Some call for 
them without ever returning them or reporting 
their criticisms. These teachers are training their 
pupils to be careless and indifferent, and often 
dishonest. They are also sinning against them- 
selves, for they are certain in this way to secure 
the disrespect of their classes. Pupils soon detect 
the weakness of a teacher. They love system and 
definiteness of purpose. They respect a teacher 
who attends to his own duty thoroughly and at 
the right time. They lose confidence in a teacher 
who neglects duty. 

63. It Is a Mistake to Assign the Same Home 
Work Regularly to All the Pupils in a Class — 
The individuality of the pupils must necessarily 
be restricted somewhat during the day in school 
by class exercises. This is especially true in 
graded schools. The work done at home should 
be mainly chosen by the pupils. It should consist 
of study in departments in which the individual 
pupil is behind, and work in which he specially 
excels. The second class of work reveals the cen- 
tral power of each child to the teacher, and what 
is much more important it reveals his power to 
himself. Pupils will do gladly much excellent 
work if allowed to choose for themselves. The 
joy of their work is a most important element 



MISTAKES IN METHOD &5 

in deciding their attitude towards work through- 
out their lives. 

57. It Is a Mistake to Continue a Lesson Too 
Long. — The attention will flag if confined too long 
to one subject. The minds even of adults should 
be rested occasionally while studying. Variety in 
work aids in securing attention. Change of work 
gives rest and promotes the health of the pupils. 
Many of the physical disadvantages of school life 
result from a continuance of the same kind of 
work in one position until the work becomes un- 
interesting, and the position wearisome. Recre- 
ation at the end of each hour for five minutes 
will enable the student to make more rapid prog- 
ress than he would otherwise make. The rests 
should come more frequently in junior classes. 
Two fifteen-minute lessons given at proper inter- 
vals are much better for little ones than one half- 
hour lesson. The business routine of changing 
classes may be made a means of natural disci- 
pline, and will be very useful especially in pri- 
mary classes. 

58. It Is a Mistake to Think that One Teaching 
of a Subject Will Be Sufficient.— It is necessary 
not only to repeat but to review. One of the most 
discouraging things in the experience of a young 
teacher is to find that, a month after teaching a 
subject, his pupils seem to remember very little 
about it. He may have labored faithfully and 



66 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

skilfully to explain the mysteries of fractions, for 
instance; he may be proud, and justly proud, of 
his success: but if he rests satisfied with a fine 
explanation of the subject, he will find to his 
great disappointment that he has been writing in 
the sand. He should have regular reviews at 
times marked on his time-table, and in addition 
he should briefly review previous lessons before 
beginning a new one in any subject. The lesson 
of yesterday should be reviewed before beginning 
the lesson of to-day. It is only by thus repeating 
and reviewing that permanent impressions can be 
made. 

" Practice makes perfect.' ' It is equally true, 
and for a similar reason, that repetition makes 
remembrance. No teacher experiences so much 
difficulty in enabling his pupils to comprehend a 
lesson, as he does in impressing it upon their 
memories after it has been explained. Memory's 
track, to be fit for travel, must be well beaten. 
Memory, like a piece of polished metal, shines 
more brightly the more frequently it is burnished. 

The teacher has two duties in regard to knowl- 
edge — to get it into the minds of his pupils, and 
to keep it there ; to explain, and to fix the knowl- 
edge explained. 

Explanation affords a teacher the widest field 
for the display of his individuality and teaching 
talent, but the permanency of his teaching de- 



MISTAKES IN METHOD 67 

pends upon persistent repetition and reviewing. 
The old lady's rule for sweetening rhubarb: "Put 
in as much sugar as your conscience will allow 
you, and then shut your eyes and throw in a hand- 
ful more," if slightly changed may be taken as 
a guide by teachers. "We must repeat and review, 
and review and repeat until it seems absurd to re- 
peat any longer, and then experience will show 
us the necessity for repeating and reviewing 
again. Of course there should be as much variety 
as possible in the methods of reviewing. 

59. It Is a Mistake to Be Satisfied with Repeti- 
tion at the Time of Teaching. — Some teachers re- 
peat and have their classes repeat the facts 
taught, while teaching them, and rest contented 
with this. This repetition is frequently carried to 
such an extent as to weary the pupils and make 
teaching but a "mechanical grind of words." It 
is, moreover, the least effective kind of repetition. 
It is merely applying a second coat of paint be- 
fore the first has dried. The repetition that fixes 
knowledge is that in which the mind retraces its 
steps, and familiarizes itself with what it has 
passed over. True reviewing does not mean a 
tedious wagging of the tongue." 

60. It Is a Mistake to Substitute Repetition of 
Words for Repetition of a Process. — One repeti- 
tion with the ends of the fingers is better than 



68 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

ten with the tongue. Words may be mere sounds ; 
sets of words may be fixed in the mind without 
producing corresponding feeling or thought. Our 
growth comes from repeated acts, not by stor- 
ing our memories. In every subject the pupils 
should review by doing what will call into action 
the knowledge we wish to fix in their minds. The 
child's doing must be guided by his own mind, 
and an effort of will-action marks the mind much 
more definitely than any direct attempts at mem- 
orizing. 

61. It Is a Mistake to Suppose that Detecting 
Errors Is Equivalent to Correcting Them. — Many 
teachers simply test the ability of their pupils to 
answer certain questions relating to the subject 
in hand. They ask the questions, and, if they 
are missed, they mark the results on the delin- 
quent pupils themselves, or in the conduct and 
work register. Sometimes both methods of mark- 
ing are adopted. The teacher seems to think that 
his whole duty is performed when he has wisely 
shaken his head and said "next," or "wrong," 
or passed the question to some other pupil. It is 
not enough to show a pupil that he does not know 
the answer or understand the subject. 

62. It Is a Mistake to Be Satisfied with One 
Correction of an Error. — The teacher should re- 
peat and re-repeat the questions that have been 



MISTAKES IN METHOD 69 

missed. He should not, of course, repeat a ques- 
tion several times in succession. Time will not 
admit of consecutive repetition by the same indi- 
vidual. If several members of a class have failed 
to answer a question properly, it is quite right 
occasionally to have the answer given in rapid 
succession a few times by the class simultaneously. 
When an error has been made and corrected by 
the pupil who made it, the same question should 
be given again to him a few minutes afterwards. 
Impressions are rooted, and errors eradicated, by 
repetition. Whenever it is possible, as in spell- 
ing, composition, etc., for the pupil to make a list 
of the mistakes he makes, he should be required 
to do so. These lists should be used frequently 
in drills. The best spelling-book a pupil can have 
is a list of the words he has spelled inaccurately. 
The best pronouncing dictionary he can have is a 
list of words he has mispronounced in reading or 
in conversation with his teacher. 

63. It Is a Mistake to Try to Teach Too Much 
in a Single Lesson.— Many teachers seem to think 
that their ability as teachers is to be measured 
by the extent of ground which they can cover in 
a lesson. They reckon the progress of their schol- 
ars by the number of pages passed over. They 
measure the amount of their mathematical knowl- 
edge by the square yard. They forget that the 
pupils themselves have any part in the work of 



70 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

learning. The teacher gives information, the 
pupils receive it. The result of teaching depends 
much more on the receiving than the giving. It 
is measured, not by what the pupils hear, but by 
what they carry with them from the class-room 
and apply in future life. 

The facts stated by the teacher or drawn by 
him from the pupils should be drilled upon per- 
sistently by the teacher while the lesson is in 
progress. "Questioning in" is the grandest 
method of the trained and cultured teacher in 
teaching new facts or thoughts; "questioning 
out" is the only certain way of fastening them 
firmly in the mind. Drill when about three facts 
have been communicated, however simple they 
may be ; then give three additional facts and drill 
over the six, and so on to the close of the lesson. 
This repetition drill should be more thorough tow- 
ards the close of the lesson. It should be varied 
as much as possible. The answering should be 
partly simultaneous and partly individual, and 
always brisk and lively. 

64. It Is a Mistake to Be Indefinite in Teaching. 
— One of the most important lessons we can teach 
in school is thoroughness. Knowledge is valuable 
only when it is reliable. Be accurate first, even 
if you have to make apparently slow progress. 
Be sure that one idea is clearly understood and 
impressed before you proceed with another. Avoid 



MISTAKES IN METHOD Jl 

ambiguous expressions. Correct them when used 
by your pupils either orally or in their composi- 
tions. 

65. It Is a Mistake to Devote Attention Chiefly 
to the Bright Pupils in a Class. — Too often the 
teacher neglects the duller pupils in order to 
sweep triumphantly on with those who are more 
brilliant. The temptation to do so is great, even 
without the additional stimulus given by compari- 
son of the results of test examinations. Such a 
course is manifestly unfair, however, as the 
teacher is aiding those who least require assist- 
ance, and neglecting those who most need help. 
Archbishop Whately relates that "a certain gar- 
dener always outstripped his competitors by tak- 
ing the highest prizes for gooseberries. Time 
after time he had been successful. The reason 
of his success was a secret which his rivals deter- 
mined to learn. They accordingly watched him 
from an ambush and found that he carefully 
stripped his best bushes early in the season of all 
but a few of their largest berries. He thus ob- 
tained berries of a very great size; but he only 
raised a few quarts from bushes which would 
have produced a large quantity of berries. ,, 
Teachers should remember that they should aim 
to give all their pupils the highest and best cul- 
ture possible for them under the circumstances 



72 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

in which they are placed, and not merely to de- 
velop a few " prize gooseberries." 

66. It Is a Mistake to Give Information to Chil- 
dren Which They Cannot Apply at Once.— This 
is not the way in which they learned before they 
went to school, and they learned more rapidly 
then, and remembered what they learned better, 
than they ever do afterwards. They acquired 
knowledge then by using things, and they ap- 
plied the knowledge at once as they gained it. 
When the pupil can give the sounds of two letters 
he should form and name the words that can be 
made with them. The sound or power of another 
letter should then be learned, and several new 
words can be formed by combining the three let- 
ters, and so on. Even if the "alphabetic" method 
is used, it is absurd to keep the child droning at 
the names of the twenty-six letters when long 
sentences might be prepared by using only a few 
of them. Whatever method of teaching word- 
recognition is used, pupils should read a sentence 
as soon as they can name the words it contains 
and can comprehend the thought it expresses. 

Pupils should not be compelled to go through 
the drudgery of learning the whole of the tables 
in arithmetic before they put a part of them in 
practice. They should apply the simpler portions 
of the addition and multiplication tables, for in- 
stance, before completing the whole tables. When 



MISTAKES IN METHOD 73 

a pupil has found out by using shoe-pegs, slats, 
beans, or other objects that two ones make two, 
and two twos make four, he is ready to learn and 
apply the process of multiplication. The teacher 
may at once assign an example with the multi- 
plicand large enough to extend across the pupil's 
slate provided it contains no figures but 2 and 1. 
If he does so the pupil in a single example is 
forced to remember and record a considerable 
number of times the fact that two twos make four. 
Repetition of process is infinitely more interesting 
than repetition of mere words, and the impres- 
sions made by it are much more lasting. The 
teacher must of course carefully avoid any work 
involving a knowledge of the tables beyond the 
pupil's acquirements. Pupils are frequently com- 
pelled to count their fingers by the thoughtless- 
ness of the teachers who scold them for it. In 
addition the teacher may assign long, examples* 
and yet involve in them only a few combinations 
thoroughly mastered by his pupils by preparing 
his examples before he needs to use them, and 
forming them from the bottom of the columns. 
Definitions in Euclid, grammar, geography, etc., 
should never be given until their need has been 
felt by the pupils. A boy in a workshop is never 
set to learn descriptions or definitions of the tools 
he is to use as a means of learning to use them. 
He learns to handle a tool by handling it. No 



74 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

master but the schoolmaster ever makes the blun- 
der of making his pupils commit tables, alphabets 
and definitions before they are needed for use. 

67. It Is a Mistake to Use Objects in Reviewing 
or Drilling. — Objects should be used in giving the 
ideas at first, but not in repeating afterwards. 
The pupils should deal with the abstractions as 
soon as they have been clearly conceived by the 
aid of the real things. In addition, for instance, 
it is necessary that the child should learn the 
sum of seven and nine first by means of balls, or 
beans, or some objects ; but having clearly learned 
the fact that seven things added to nine things 
of the same kind make sixteen things, he should 
only add the numbers 9 and 7 in future. The ob- 
jects enable a teacher to teach a lesson more easily 
than he could do without them, but once the les- 
son has been learned the objects are only fetters 
which prevent the freest development of the mind. 
The perception should not be continued after the 
conception has become definite. 

68. It Is a Mistake to Accept Partial Answers. 
— It is well to insist that pupils should give their 
answers in the form of complete sentences. The 
best language lessons are the practical lessons 
given in oral composition in the general work of 
the schoolroom. Good speaking is not taught by 
rules but by much practice in expressing thought, 
and by correcting the errors made in conversation, 



MISTAKES IN METHOD 75 

errors in pronunciation as well as in grammar. 
The pupils should express their ideas, therefore, 
at all times in the form of complete sentences to 
accustom them to the formation of sentences 
which accurately express their thoughts. This 
will give the teacher his best opportunity for cor- 
recting errors. 

Questions whose answers can be given by a 
single name or date need not be answered as 
above directed. 

Give the date of the battle of Hastings. 

The date of the battle of Hastings is 1066 A. D. 

Name the commander of the British forces at 
Waterloo. 

Wellington was the commander of the British 
forces at Waterloo. 

To answer these and similar questions in com- 
plete sentences is a waste of time, without com- 
pensation in the way of development. 

The rule that should guide the teacher in this 
matter is: Whenever the answer expresses a 
thought of the pupil, it should be expressed in 
his own language in the form of a sentence. Mere 
repetition of the question with the addition of a 
word or date is of little benefit. 

69. It Is a Mistake to Repeat Every Answer.— 
Teachers often acquire the habit of repeating an 
answer automatically as soon as it is given by a 
pupil. This is simply a waste of time. Indeed, 



76 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

this method of killing time is resorted to by some 
designedly. They repeat the answer to one ques- 
tion while preparing to ask another. This should 
not be necessary. The teacher's questions should 
be ready, or the answering will be slow and the 
attention unsettled. Occasionally it may be wise 
to repeat the answer in order to impress it on 
the minds of the other members of the class, or 
to emphasize some essential part. 

70. It Is a Mistake to Have a Stereotyped Plan 
of Presenting a Subject. — It is necessary to suc- 
cessful teaching that the teacher should prepare 
his lessons, not his subjects merely, carefully be- 
forehand. He should also arrange the general 
plan of his lesson. This will prevent his wander- 
ing while teaching. His plan should be elastic, 
however, so as to allow him to adapt it to the cir- 
cumstances that may arise, or the question that 
may be asked while teaching. The bones of the 
plan should not be seen. The more variety the 
teacher can give to the method of presenting a 
subject the greater will be the interest taken in it 
by the pupils. 

71. It Is a Mistake to Talk Too Much While 
Teaching. — Some teachers are very fond of airing 
their knowledge of the lesson. If a teacher talks 
a great deal he is either too diffuse in the treat- 
ment of his subject, or he offers his pupils more 
thought than they can properly digest. It is not 



MISTAKES IN METHOD 77 

possible for a class to attend hour after hour and 
day after day to a teacher who gives them no 
share in the work of learning but as listeners. 
Even if they could do so, but little would be 
gained. Listening attention is not a very develop- 
ing exercise. Receptive activity of the mind is 
its least stimulating positive effort. He is the best 
teacher who can stimulate his pupils with fewest 
words to greatest mental activity and interest in 
their lessons. Most of the talking should be done 
by the pupils as guided or led by the teacher. If 
the teacher talks too much he wearies himself as 
well as his class. Let the talking be reduced to 
the minimum, and the working increased to the 
maximum extent possible. 

72. It Is a Mistake to Use Long Words in Teach- 
ing. — Great thoughts are best expressed in simple 
language. Those who teach children must use 
plain, familiar words, or they will be misunder- 
stood. All teachers are liable to forget the change 
that has taken place in their own mental develop- 
ment since they were children. The minds of 
pupils are frequently confused because their 
teachers take it for granted that they understand 
the meaning of words with whose use they are 
unacquainted. 

The teacher should be as correct a model as 
possible in his language. It should be simple, 
carefully chosen, appropriate, and accurate as re- 



78 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

gards pronunciation and grammatical construc- 
tion. 

73. It Is a Mistake to Make the Learning of 
Names a Direct Aim in Teaching. — If the names 
of things are used incidentally in connection with 
the things themselves the names will be learned 
incidentally without effort by the pupils. No 
child ever had a lesson on the name of a spoon, 
or a knife, or a chair, or any of the thousand and 
one things in his home, but he knows the names 
of them all before he is three years old. We 
should never ask for the names of things. It is 
only when we do so that it becomes difficult to 
learn them. Pupils will learn the names of the 
letters of the alphabet incidentally by hearing 
their names as they are used, in a much shorter 
time than if they had been compelled to learn 
their names by a direct effort. The learning of 
names can never be a very interesting exercise. 
It is quite right for a teacher to name an object 
or a part of one, and ask the pupils to point out 
the part named, but he should not point to the 
thing and ask the name. Many teachers and par- 
ents object to the use of such words as " parallelo- 
gram, " or "triangle," "peninsula," etc., by 
young children, on the plea that they are beyond 
their comprehension. That depends on how the 
child has been taught. If he has learned what a 
triangle is by actually handling triangles, and 



MISTAKES IN METHOD 79 

has become familiar with their distinguishing 
characteristics by using them, then he will use 
the word "triangle" as intelligently as the word 
"chair." The child five years of age uses many 
words in his ordinary conversation which are in 
themselves more difficult to spell and utter than 
those above named; for instance, polonaise, um- 
brella, parasol, refrigerator, etc. The name of a 
thing is always a matter of secondary importance 
to a child. What the thing is or does is of su- 
preme interest to him. If this can be learned, and 
especially if it can be learned practically, the 
name will give no trouble either to the memory 
or to the vocal organs. Without the idea, the 
name is a mere sound with no educative power. 

74. It Is a Mistake to Try to Make Difficulties 
Too Simple. — The duty of a teacher in teaching is 
held by some to consist in simplicity of explana- 
tion. The teacher is to make mild and sweet- 
ened decoctions of knowledge, and give them in 
homeopathic doses to the pupils. When the schol- 
ars meet with any rocks in their pathway, he is 
to remove them. Instead of allowing them to 
climb the hill of knowledge, he is told to level 
the hill and even make a good road across the 
plain for their accommodation. The teachers who 
act on this principle necessarily dwarf the minds 
of their pupils. 

The teacher should aim— 



80 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

1. To aid the pupils in getting over difficulties 
themselves. 

2. To present the difficulties of a subject in 
their proper order, in a series of natural steps. 

3. To graduate the steps to suit the ages and 
advancement of the classes. They should be very 
small indeed at first. 

4. To avoid giving explanation as far as possi- 
ble. Explain the nature of the materials for 
thought which are presented in the text-books or 
in other ways; do not do the thinking for the 
pupils. 

5. When explanation is necessary it should be 
clear, definite, and brief. 

75. It Is a Mistake to Neglect Any Opportunity 
for Making the Pupils Do as Much as Possible in 
Learning. — One of the fundamental principles of 
teaching is, ''Children learn by doing." This 
principle if properly carried out has two great 
advantages. 

1. It develops the executive power of the child, 
and will-action is the highest power the teacher 
has to develop. 

2. It is the only certain way of maintaining 
attention. If a boy is using his hands he must 
be attentive, because no mind but his own can 
guide his hand. It must be remembered that the 
senses at best are merely servants of the mind. 
They convey impressions to the brain, but the 



MISTAKES IN METHOD 8l 

accuracy, the intensity, and the permanency of 
these impressions depend upon the brain itself. 
The senses do not mould thought, they supply the 
mind with the materials from which thoughts are 
formed. They carry to the brain an infinite num- 
ber of impressions to which it pays little or no 
attention. Unless the mind assumes a receptive 
attitude, thought is not developed at all, and even 
if thoughts are formed in the mind, they do not 
remain there unless they are used. To require 
pupils to learn by doing is the only method which 
absolutely demands the fulfillment of all the con- 
ditions necessary to secure clearness and perma- 
nency of thought. The attention is thus fixed, 
and the brain does not merely receive impressions 
but moulds them into thoughts which it uses at 
once in performing work. Knowledge should not 
only be acquired but applied, and whenever pos- 
sible applied through the instrumentality of the 
hands with actual things. 

At one time the teacher of chemistry was satis- 
fied with learned statements of the facts of his 
subject, accompanied with blackboard illustra- 
tions. Then actual experiments were performed 
in the presence of the class to illustrate and con- 
firm the teaching. A still further step was made 
when the experiments preceded the explanation, 
and the pupils were required to notice and account 
for the results. Now, however, the teacher who 



82 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

wishes to make definite and lasting impressions 
requires each student to perform the experiments 
for himself. It is only by doing this, and by fre- 
quently repeating the same experiment, that the 
chemical theories will maintain themselves in the 
student's mind in competition with the vast ac- 
cumulation of thoughts which are forced into it 
in practical life. 

Botany is not now regarded as well taught un- 
less the student actually handles typical speci- 
mens and draws their characteristic parts. 

A student may look for years at a map without 
getting a definite idea of the relations of the vari- 
ous parts of the countries outlined on it. For 
this as well as other reasons good teachers now 
depend mainly on map-sketching by modeling in 
clay, plaster, putty, or cutting out of wood, paper, 
etc., as a means of teaching geography. They do 
not simply draw a map themselves on the black- 
board, but every pupil sketches the map for him- 
self as the teaching progresses, and part by part 
is added to the map. It is an excellent plan to 
have a broad, shallow box with sand or moulder's 
earth in it, so that the beginners in geography 
may actually shape for themselves the various 
divisions of land in learning the definitions. Con- 
tinents, may be formed in this way, with their 
mountain ranges, valleys, peninsulas, capes, etc. 
Wooden blocks may be used to represent cities. 



MISTAKES IN METHOD 83 

If the bottom of the box is painted blue it will 
serve to represent water. 

Our mental powers may be divided into those 
that gather thought, those that classify thought, 
and those that use thought. They should not act 
independently, but in related sequence at the 
same time. No thought can be clearly defined or 
permanently fixed in the mind unless the last 
step in the process has been taken. Repetition 
of words deadens, repetition of process arouses 
mental effort in a natural way. 

The principle of learning by doing is recognized 
by most teachers in teaching some subjects. In 
writing, drawing, reading, and the mathematical 
subjects, the pupils are allowed to perform their 
fair share of the work. No teacher is satisfied 
with merely giving them the necessary ideas. 
They put the theories into practice at once. This 
should be done to, the fullest extent possible in 
teaching all subjects. 

We may get new ideas into our minds by read- 
ing, by hearing, and by seeing, but they only be- 
come parts of ourselves when we have used them. 
Doing is the best way to gain clear thoughts, and 
the surest way to fix them in the mind. 

76. It Is a Mistake to Tell Pupils Anything 
They Should Know or Can Be Led to Find Out 
by Judicious Teaching. — This is the teacher's 
golden rule. If only this one rule were carried 



84 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

out, the teaching in most schools would be revo- 
lutionized. Young teachers should repeat it every 
morning on their way to school, and ask them- 
selves every evening wherein they have violated 
it. It will form a pruning-hook to cut away most 
of the errors in method, if it is intelligently used. 

Telling is not teaching. Lecturing or sermon- 
izing is not teaching. The teacher should lead or 
guide his pupils through the garden of knowledge, 
and show them which kinds of fruit are benefi- 
cial and which injurious; he should also show 
them the best means of obtaining the fruit, but he 
should not pluck it for them, and eat it for them, 
and digest it for them. He should teach his schol- 
ars how to think, he should not do the thinking 
for them. This will help them to develop, by giv- 
ing their mental activity the work for which it so 
ardently longs. 

No wonder that little fellows with so many 
germs of life and power in them, waiting to be 
stirred into activity and vigor, should have an 
aversion to attend schools in which they are mere 
listeners. If the teacher is not acquainted with 
the wonderful nature of the mind he has to de- 
velop, and the natural order of the growth of its 
powers, he should be very tolerant of truancy. 
The temptation to play "hookey" may sometimes 
come from imprisoned faculties protesting against 
their unjust neglect. Certain it is that, independ- 



MISTAKES IN METHOD 85 

ent of the evil effects resulting from conscious 
disobedience, a boy would learn more in the fields 
and woods with the flowers and birds than in 
many a school. 

Sir William Hamilton says: "The primary 
principle of education is the determination of the 
pupil to self -activity — the doing nothing for him 
which he is able to do for himself." 

Herbert Spencer says: "In education the proc- 
ess of self-development should be encouraged to 
the fullest extent. Children should be led to 
make their own investigations and to draw their 
own inferences. They should be told as little as 
possible, and induced to discover as much as pos- 
sible. Self-evolution guarantees a vividness and 
permanency of impression which the usual meth- 
ods can never produce. Any piece of knowledge 
which the pupil has himself acquired, any prob- 
lem which he has himself solved, becomes by vir- 
tue of the conquest much more thoroughly his 
than it could else be. The preliminary activity of 
mind which his success implies, the concentration 
of thought necessary to it, and the excitement 
consequent on his triumph, conspire to register all 
the facts in his memory in a way that no mere 
information heard from a teacher, or read in a 
school-book, can be registered. Even if he fail, 
the tension to which his faculties have been 
wound up insures his remembrance of the solution 



86 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

when given to him, better than half a dozen repe- 
titions would. Observe again, that this discipline 
necessitates a continuous organization of the 
knowledge he acquires. It is in the very nature 
of facts and inferences, assimilated in this normal 
manner, that they successively become the prem- 
ises of further conclusions, — the means of solving 
still further questions. The solution of yester- 
day's problem helps the pupil in mastering to- 
day's. Thus knowledge is turned into a faculty 
as soon as it 'is taken in, and forthwith aids in 
the general function of thinking — does not lie 
merely written in the pages of an internal library, 
as when rote-learnt." 

Horace Mann wrote: "Unfortunately educa- 
tion amongst us at present consists too much in 
telling, not in training." 

Let the pupils have a chance to enjoy the pleas- 
ures of discovering for themselves, and school 
will be to them not a prison, but a temple of joy. 
How children delight in overcoming a difficulty! 
How much greater is their satisfaction when they 
overcome it without aid from the teacher! The 
honor is then entirely their own. What a differ- 
ence there is, too, in the results of teaching, when 
the pupil is allowed to do his own share of the 
work ! If an infant were always carried in arms, 
it would never learn to walk. Each little effort 
it makes for itself gives new power and vigor to 






MISTAKES IN METHOD 87 

its muscles. So the child that is lifted over every 
obstacle by the strong mental arm of his teacher 
will become mentally feeble, and dependent upon 
others. He will lean, if he is trained to do so ; 
and when he has to go forth into the world with- 
out his teacher for a helper, he will be unable 
to surmount the difficulties in his path. A pupil 
can never forget a fact learned practically, as 
the result of his own investigation. One boy 
learns by actually mixing yellow and blue colors 
that they form green, and discovers the effects of 
combining all the primary colors in forming sec- 
ondary colors. Another is told the results of the 
combinations of the primary colors. He may 
even have these results exhibited by means of 
the most ingenious and elaborately colored charts. 
The permanence of the teaching in the two cases 
will be vastly different. The second boy, ten 
years after leaving school, may remember, after 
a process of thought, that red and blue produce 
purple. The first does not need to make a con- 
scious effort in remembering. He knows it as he 
knows his name ; that he has two hands, ten toes, 
etc.; that the weather is cold in winter; or as he 
knows any of the thousand and one facts which 
he has learned for himself practically. 



CHAPTER IV 
Mistakes in Moral Training 



77. It Is a Mistake to Neglect the Manners and 
Deportment of the Pupils. — The true rules of 
politeness are not arbitrary. They rest on a foun- 
dation of right and justice. They are based on a 
recognition of the relationship we bear to those 
around us, and the duties we owe to each other 
as individual members of the family, society, or 
the state. If a boy is truly polite from proper 
motives, he has made a good start in his moral 
j training. Good manners will not make a boy 
a Christian, but they make it a great deal easier 
for him to be a Christian. They are the outward 
sign of an unselfish character, and their reflex 
action tends to make the character unselfish. 
Good manners should be taught practically. Each 
child should receive an individual greeting as he 
arrives in the morning, and each should go home 
in the evening with a parting salutation from the 
teacher that is his "very own." In addition to 



MISTAKES IN MORAL TRAINING 89 

this, the teacher should welcome his class as a 
whole, when it is time to open school, with a 
pleasant "Good morning," and also bid the class 
"Good evening" at the close of the day's work. 

"When a known visitor comes to the school, pu- 
pils should stand to receive him, and say, "Good 

morning," or "Good afternoon, Mr. ." 

When a stranger comes, the pupils should wait 
until he has been introduced. They should then 
rise and address him. This is what they would 
be expected to do at their own homes under simi- 
lar circumstances. Why should they not be 
trained to do it in school? 

Boys should be trained to raise their hats when 
they meet ladies of their acquaintance on the 
street, and to give a respectful salute to their male 
friends. They should learn in school how to do 
so. The use of the proper hand is raising the hat 
or saluting (the one farthest from the person 
saluted) should be made instinctive by proper 
practice. The resting time between lessons may 
very properly be devoted occasionally to training 
in saluting. Boys and girls may march past each 
other and practice the street salutation. If it 
becomes a mockery, or is regarded as mere fun, 
the teacher is to blame. Pupils should salute their 
teachers as they march past them at the recesses, 
and when entering their rooms in the morning 
and at noon. 



go MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

The teacher should never allow pupils to answer 
"Yes" or "No," merely, but "Yes, sir," "No, 
sir," or "Yes, Miss ," "No, Miss ." 

The every-day work of the school will afford 
many opportunities for enforcing a recognition of 
the rights of others, for showing respect to seniors 
or those in authority, and for practicing the many 
acts of courtesy that children should exhibit tow- 
ards each other. 

The school training in manners, as in every- 
thing else, will depend on what is done rather 
than on what is said. An ounce of action is worth 
a pound of advice. 

78. It Is a Mistake to Appeal to Motives That 
Are Beyond the Perfect Comprehension of the 
Pupils. — Abstract doctrines of theology can have 
little weight with children. Formal statements of 
even religious truths may not be understood, and 
if they are not clearly comprehended they should 
not be given as motives. A child who simulates 
a feeling he does not really feel is necessarily 
being trained in hypocrisy. The repeated state- 
ment of principles that do not give definite con- 
ceptions of duty must weaken the force that truth 
should have. Pestalozzi says: "Young children 
can not be governed by appeals to conscience, be- 
cause it is not yet developed. Sympathy must 
gradually be superseded by the rule of right, and 
children must be led from good feelings to right 



MISTAKES IN MORAL TRAINING 9 1 

principles. Sympathy is the child's strongest 
motive. ' ' 

79. It Is a Mistake to Place the Temptation to 
Dishonesty Too Definitely in the Way of a Child 
by the Self-reporting System. — Where the posi- 
tion in the class, and the good opinion of parents, 
depend on the monthly report of the teacher re- 
garding conduct and class work, it is a most dan- 
gerous thing to allow pupils to do their own re- 
porting. There are, it is true, some pupils who 
could not be led to do wrong in order to secure 
advancement, but there are many who could be 
so tempted, and it is wrong to place them in such 
conditions as will reward dishonesty. The moral 
sense of the pupil who takes credit for better 
marks than he deserves is blunted and his tend- 
ency to dishonesty is strengthened. The honest 
pupil who sees cheating rewarded loses faith in 
justice and righteousness, and thereby loses power 
to practice them. It is a sad thing for a child to 
receive the impression early in life that advance- 
ment is often the result of improper actions. Un- 
less the teacher's record of marks can be made 
absolutely correct, the marking should be aban- 
doned. Even at best the marking system is of 
doubtful value. 

80. It Is a Mistake to Train Pupils in Criticis- 
ing to Note Only What Is Wrong or Imperfect. — 
"When pupils are called upon to express opinions 



92 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

in regard to the work of their classmates, they 
are usually asked to point out the errors they can 
find. They are to mark the mistakes in spelling, 
in punctuation, in composition, in pronunciation, 
etc. This necessarily gives their minds a critical 
tendency, and probably has a good deal to do with 
the fault-finding spirit displayed by too many 
adults. The teacher should avail himself of the 
many opportunities afforded in the work of the 
school to allow the pupils to call attention to the 
excellencies in the work done by their neighbors. 
They may point out the good features in the read- 
ing, or composition, or drawing, map-sketching, 
etc., of other scholars as easily as the bad, if they 
are trained to do so. The influence of such train- 
ing will be better, intellectually and morally, than 
that of the plan usually adopted. 

81. It Is a Mistake to Neglect the Opportunities 
for Moral Development Afforded in the Play- 
ground. — The teacher may give his pupils a great 
many definite moral lessons in the playground. 
Boys and girls may learn there to bear defeat 
bravely, to allow no defeat to discourage them, 
to depend upon persevering effort to win suc- 
cess, to be prompt to decide and quick to execute, 
to put forth their best power in order to attain 
their purposes, to receive injury without giving 
way to anger, to take no mean advantage of ar 
opponent, to exhibit, in short, the character] 



MISTAKES IN MORAL TRAINING 93 

of ladies and gentlemen in meeting their fellows 
in a contest similar in very many respects to the 
struggle of after-life. Many of these opportuni- 
ties will be lost if the teacher is not an active 
participator in, or a sympathetic observer of, the 
games. 

82. It Is a Mistake to Control Pupils by Exter- 
nal Agencies Chiefly. — These may have to be used 
at first in a new class, or with a new child when 
he first comes to school. Control may have to be 
gained by the vigorous exercise of the teacher's 
will, or by punishments or other coercive meas- 
ures, but it should not be maintained by these 
means. No discipline maintained in such a way 
is good, even in itself, and certainly such disci- 
pline can not be as beneficial as it should be in 
the development of character. Our aim should be 
to make the pupils self-governing. No lower aim 
can make them good citizens, or qualify them 
for a conscious upward growth. Law should 
never bend to the whims of individuals, but every 
pupil should be made as independent as possible 
within the range of law, and in obedience to it. 
The teacher should awaken in the child motives 
which will lead him to act. These motives should 
change, as the child grows older, from instinct 
to consciousness of duty, but as soon as possible 
the child should feel his power of control over 



94 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

himself, as a necessary element in defining his 
individual responsibility. 

83. It Is a Mistake to Reprove or Punish for 
"Not Being Good." — "You see what you may 
expect, sir, if you are not good," said a stern 
teacher to a little boy on his first day in school, 
after he had given another boy an unmerciful 
whipping. Whipped for "not being good"; 
whipped for "not being good." This was the 
message that was sent echoing through the sensi- 
tive and aroused moral nature of the child. He 
did not learn to hate the wrong or the evil. He 
learned to hate "having to be good"; because, 
if there was no such thing as "having to be 
good," he would not be whipped. His reasoning 
was logical. The master was wrong. Goodness 
should not be associated with punishment. Pun- 
ishment and wrong-doing should be linked to- 
gether. The child should leave school with a 
clear knowledge of the fact that every act of 
conscious wrong-doing brings to him punishment 
in weakening his character, even if no further 
punishment comes from powers outside of him- 
self. 

84. It Is a Mistake to Punish Unsympathetic- 
ally. — Teachers often look and act as if it gave 
them satisfaction to punish a pupil. Others pun- 
ish while angry. In either case it is clear, to the 



MISTAKES IN MORAL TRAINING 95 

pupil at least, that the teacher's feeling is shown 
towards the pupil, and not towards the offence of 
which he is guilty. Indignation at the wrong- 
doing may be quite right, but no feeling should be 
shown towards the pupil but one of sorrowing 
sympathy. Horace Mann tells of a young black- 
smith who said to his father when he failed in 
his attempt to harden the temper of a piece of 
steel, "Beat it, father, beat it; that will harden 
it if anything will." Punishment is sure to 
harden, if the teacher is not careful. The right 
to punish is a sacred trust. No teacher ever 
knows the highest joy that is to be found in his 
professional work until he loves his worst boy 
better than he does his best. The love of the best 
is always to a certain extent a sweet kind of self- 
ishness, none the less dangerous or weakening be- 
cause it is sweet. The love of the worst must 
spring from an unselfish desire to make him 
nobler, purer, truer. With such a love punish- 
ment will surely serve its true purpose. 

85. It Is a Mistake to Expect Too Much Moral 
Goodness from Children. — Moral growth in chil- 
dren will necessarily be slow. It will develop 
hypocrisy to try to develop precocious goodness 
in little ones. It will also lead them to believe 
themselves to be better than they are, and moral 
as well as intellectual growth ceases as soon as 
we are satisfied with ourselves. There was a good 



96 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

deal of suggestive philosophy in the answer of a 
little girl whose mother said to her one evening, 
"Well, Bertha, have you been a very good girl 
today?" "No, mamma." "Have you been a bad 
girl?" "No, mamma." "Well, what kind of a 
girl have you been?" "Oh, just a comfortable 
little girl, mamma." Mature goodness is an un- 
natural development in young children. Play is 
better than formal piety for a child. Genuine 
play may be a true expression of a child's piety. 
86. It Is a Mistake to Arouse the Emotional 
Nature Too Indefinitely. — It is of vital importance 
that the emotional nature be fully developed. 
Feeling is the battery power of character. "To 
love truly and hate truly is a large part of edu- 
cation." But emotion may enfeeble character. 
The weakest of human beings is the mere senti- 
mentalist, who weeps at sorrow in the abstract, 
but whose feelings never develop into thought 
and decision, which they crystal ize into generous 
action. There are thousands of young ladies who 
bewail the sufferings of ideal characters in the 
novels they read, who have never made the slight- 
est effort involving a sacrifice of self in order to 
relieve the real woes of a single fellow-creature. 
A Russian lady wept piteously at the sadness she 
saw depicted on the stage, and found her coach- 
man frozen to death at the close of the perform- 
ance. Her best feelings had been wasted on the 



MISTAKES IN MOEAL TKAINING 97 

mere semblance of sorrow, while her selfishness 
was blinding her to the terrible affliction she was 
herself causing. 

All sentiment or feeling that does not produce 
a definite tendency to corresponding activity is 
enfeebling. The songs and stories told to little 
ones should be chosen with the greatest care. 
Those that are seemingly good may often be most 
dangerous in character. The teacher should 
avoid pointing out what is called the "moral" 
of the story to young children. In the culture of 
the emotional nature we should distinguish very 
clearly between the general stimulation of the 
better and purer feelings and awakening a defi- 
nite feeling in favor of some specific duty. We 
may be influenced by a charming sunset, beauti- 
ful scenery, music, painting, or poetry. They are 
to our spiritual nature what pure air and whole- 
some food are to our physical nature. But as we 
may take too much good food, so we may have- 
too much emotional stimulation. To over-develop 
even a good side of our nature at the expense of 
our other powers destroys the harmony of our 
being, and weakens us correspondingly. We 
should carefully guard against the development 
of the sentimental nature beyond the practical. 
The development of feeling in favor of a particu- 
lar duty is even more dangerous than the general 



98 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

stimulation of the emotional unless it is carried 
into certain activity. 

87. It Is a Mistake to Arouse Feelings and 
Thoughts Regarding Distant Duties. — Inertness 
of character is a terrible affliction. Executive 
power, will activity, ability to carry out definitely 
the decisions arrived at: this is the most import- 
ant element in a man's character, and conse- 
quently it is the most important department of 
a man's education, mentally or morally. Inert- 
ness of character may be caused by persistently 
awakening pure feelings and good thoughts, 
without securing the corresponding action that 
should accompany them. The completed course 
of a moral impulse is feeling, thought, decision, 
action. Unless this sequence is completed every 
time it begins with reference to a specific duty, 
the character is weakened, in its most essential 
elements. Every time a boy decides to do right, 
without actually carrying out his decision, he 
strengthens the habit of inertness, or failure to 
act, and makes it harder for him to do a good 
deed of a similar kind. Every one knows the man 
who habitually decides and promises without per- 
forming. There are men who promise without 
intending to perform. They are wicked, but they 
may still be strong enough to execute the decision 
they really make. The inert man truly takes the 
first three steps in the sequence : he feels, thinks, 



MISTAKES IN MORAL TRAINING 99 

decides for right, but fails to do what he decides. 
By habitually feeling, thinking, and deciding, 
without acting, we necessarily make this course a 
habit. What is the effect of this on character? 
It weakens conscience and will, and dissipates 
the powers of feeling, thinking, and deciding defi- 
nitely. Hence the great responsibility of teach- 
ers to make action always follow good decision 
promptly. It is a most dangerous thing to lead a 
boy to decision regarding a distant duty, because 
a thousand things may in the meantime distract 
his attention, destroy his interest, and prevent 
the accomplishment of his purpose. The younger 
the child the more immediately should action fol- 
low decision. As the habit of completing the 
moral process is established, it should gradually 
be strengthened by severer tests. 

88. It Is a Mistake to Allow Conscious Violation 
of Any Rule Without an Inevitable Consequence. 
— Recognition of law and willing obedience to it 
are the foundations on which rest our ideas of 
duty in the home, in the nation, and to our Cre- 
ator. The conscious violation or disregard of any 
school rule or law is more disastrous in its effect 
on the character of the offender than it can be 
in its other consequences. The consequences of 
consciously violating an unimportant rule are as 
serious in teaching disregard for law as if the 
rule itself were more important. Rules in school 



ioo MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

are laws in the state. Conscious disregard for 
rules leads to conscious disrespect for them. Dis- 
respect for rules leads to disrespect for law. Dis- 
respect for man's law leads to disrespect for God's 
law. Disrespect for God's law directly leads to 
disrespect for God Himself. 

89. It Is a Mistake to Allow Even Slight Devia- 
tions from Right To Be Made Consciously and 
Habitually. — The acts we do mould us. Conscience 
makes the right clear, the weaknesses of our na- 
tures lead us towards wrong; our will settles the 
course we take. If we do right, will has won a 
victory ; if we do wrong, will has suffered defeat. 
Repeated victories strengthen either will or weak- 
ness. Every conscious act of the child is a vic- 
tory for either will or weakness. The teacher has 
a thousand opportunities every day for strength- 
ening the will of his pupils. Take the matter of 
pen-holding for illustration. Every child is taught 
the right position of the hand. In some schools 
very few pupils hold the pens properly. The gen- 
eral tendency is to turn the hand on the side. 
This is the easiest position for the muscles at rest, 
and so the pupils take it naturally. They know 
the right, they do the wrong. The tendency to 
gratify the convenience of a muscle is allowed to 
gain a victory over the will. Repeated defeats 
weaken the will, even though the defeats be in 
connection with common-place matters. It is 



MISTAKES IN MOEAL TRAINING IOI 

chiefly in connection with common-place matters 
that will power becomes dissipated, and that fail- 
ure becomes a habit. Therefore, while it is of 
great importance that the teacher should give 
his pupils clear ideas of right in regard to their 
work and conduct, it is more important to see that 
the right is adhered to. It is a dangerous course 
to make duty clear to a child's mind without hav- 
ing it performed. Men err, not from lack of 
knowledge of the right, but because they have not 
sufficient will power to carry out their convictions 
of truth. 

90. It Is a Mistake to Praise for Natural Ability 
or Natural Goodness. — These qualities should, and 
do, receive due recognition by the high-class posi- 
tions and the freedom from punishment which 
they secure for their possessors. Ability and 
goodness will always be at a premium. The evil 
arises from allowing the pupils to become proud 
of ability or goodness as something for which 
they deserve credit. Effort to do or to be should 
receive the sympathetic recognition of the teacher. 
Willingness to try to climb is the condition that 
merits approbation. There is a pot of gold at 
the top of every mountain we have to climb in life. 
He who faithfully climbs under the most discour- 
aging conditions as to mental or moral weakness 
earns the largest pot and the purest gold. Honest 
effort is essential, work or study that we do not 



102 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

like is the kind that disciplines character, and this 
deserves the teacher's highest praise. 

91. It Is a Mistake to Overestimate the Value 
of Formal Moral Teaching in the Development of 
Character. — A man may be thoroughly acquainted 
with the highest moral laws and yet have a very 
weak character. Character depends on what we 
have done, not on what we have learned ; on what 
we are, not on what we know. Formal statements 
of principles influence character only when they 
enlighten the conscience and modify our motives. 
An enthusiastic temperance advocate said in an 
address in favor of teaching temperance in 
schools: "If the dear children only knew the dis- 
gusting processes by which the nasty liquor is 
made they would never taste it.'' An unsympa- 
thetic but more thoughtful member of the Board 
of Education that she had addressed, reminded 
her that all the men engaged in making beer knew 
•the unpleasant steps in its manufacture, and yet 
they nearly all drink it. Knowledge is not power. 
In itself it has not power to propel towards the 
right nor to restrain from wrong. The race does 
not fail through lack of knowledge so much as 
from lack of executive power. It is questionable 
whether any system of education that gives more 
knowledge without increasing the power of 
achievement can be morally productive. All edu- 
cation that aims merely at culture, at the enrich- 



MISTAKES IN MORAL TRAINING 103 

ment of the within by what is without the child, 
is non-moral, if not positively immoral. One of 
the supreme aims of the teacher should be to teach 
every subject in such a way that the child's nat- 
ural tendency towards the achievement of his 
plans is developed and not dwarfed. 

92. It Is a Mistake to Depend on Coercion in 
the Development of Moral Character. — Doing, not 
knowing, decides our standard of moral excel- 
lence. Doing under compulsion or under the in- 
fluence of fear does not develop vital moral power. 
Coercion may keep a child away from wrong, but 
it does not destroy or eradicate the desire to do 
wrong. Many teachers believe that by compelling 
a child to conform to right regularly day after 
day they are developing the habit of doing right 
in the child's life. This is an error. They are 
developing but one habit by such a course of per- 
sistent compulsion ; the habit of conscious subordi- 
nation to the will of another. This habit is the 
essence of slavery, and is a degrading and im- 
moral habit, not a moral or a character strength- 
ening habit. 

Actions develop character and lay the founda- 
tions for strong true character only when the mo- 
tives that prompt the actions are the child's own 
motives and not the motives of his teacher or his 
parent. When the child acts from fear or by com- 
pulsion he does not act in response to any posi- 



104 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

tive motive of his own, and no character habit is 
developed by such action. Hard characters may be 
produced by coercion, but not strong characters. 
It is a very plain law in the development of indi- 
vidual power that the substitution of another's 
motive for my own must weaken my own char- 
acter instead of strengthening it. The child's 
motive may be wrong. If so, I should give him 
the enlightenment to lead him to change his 
motive. If he does a right act because I compel 
him to do so he loses in character force without 
gaining any training in habit formation. If he 
performs the same act as a result of his own de- 
cision after I have led him to see more clearly, 
then he has made positive character gains by the 
enlightenment of his conscience, by the formation 
of his own motives and obedience to them, by the 
development of his own will power in its directive 
control of his actions, and by increasing his recog- 
nition of his own individuality and his reverence 
for his own selfhood. 

93. It Is a Mistake to Think That the Child's 
Will Power Can Be Developed Without Allowing 
Him Freedom of Choice. — The control of a man's 
actions by his will pre-supposes the existence of 
at least two courses of action at all times. The 
wise man chooses the right course and adheres 
to it under the direction of his developed will. 
The foolish man either chooses the wrong way, 



MISTAKES IN MORAL TRAINING I05 

or having decided in favor of the right yet does 
the wrong. Independent choice is a fundamental 
element in the development of will power, so the 
child's power of choice should be developed so 
far as possible by all the methods of teaching and 
training in school. The child's power of choice 
should be respected by the teacher so that in time 
he will learn to value it himself. This power of 
independent choice should be trained in every 
department of study and practice in the school. 
The child should choose the stanza or paragraph 
in the reading lesson that is to him most beauti- 
ful, and be allowed to state the reasons for his 
choice. In history he should choose his favorite 
characters. In art he should be trained to choose 
his own subjects and his own methods of treating 
them. Some children prefer figure drawing, some 
landscape drawing, some architectural drawing, 
some the painting of flowers or trees. All should 
be encouraged in the development of a taste for 
a special department. Even when the whole class 
is asked to draw a tree, each child should choose 
his favorite tree. The children should be per- 
mitted to choose the musical selections which they 
like best to sing. In manual training, while each 
child may be required to make the same article 
for a lesson, each should be trained to use his 
own taste in its constructive and artistic ornamen- 
tation. 



106 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

Of course in all departments of school work the 
child should be guided by the principles revealed 
and expounded by his teacher. Freedom of choice 
should never mean a disregard for law. Rever- 
ence for law is the fundamental basis of liberty. 
Liberty under law is the only true freedom. ' ' The 
perfect law of liberty" is the only broad basis of 
individual freedom of choice. The boy in play- 
ing any game is absolutely free to decide upon his 
own course of action as the conditions of the game 
change unexpectedly from time to time, but he 
knows that he must act in conformity with the 
laws of the game he is playing. He enjoys free- 
dom under law. He chooses his own course and 
tries to execute his own decisions. For this rea- 
son a good game affords opportunities for the 
highest moral development. It makes the player 
responsible for choosing the best course of action 
under ever-varying conditions and it makes it 
necessary to success that he should strive with all 
his might to carry out his plans. 

One of the highest moral values of the Kinder- 
garten training results from the practice by which 
the child in all the Froebelian occupations carries 
out his own plans under well-defined laws of work 
and growth. Laws become to him directive and 
not restrictive forces. He is not restrained by 
law, he is guided by law. Laws become elements 
of power in his life by which he achieves success 



MISTAKES IN MOBAL TRAINING I°7 

and becomes productively self-active. Freedom 
of choice can never be to him at variance with 
law It becomes a means of using law wisely and 
an essential element in strong will power. 

94 It Is a Mistake to Degrade Obedience Into 
Subordinatiom-Obedience is a natural condition 
of childhood, which childhood always enjoys, but 
all well-balanced children naturally hate tyranny. 
The tyranny of national tyrants is not more des- 
picable than the tyranny of parents or teachers 
In the past most men, when they have claimed 
obedience from children, have really meant sub- 
ordination. Obedience is productively develop- 
ing; subordination is dwarfing both to the soul 
that is subordinate and to the tyrant soul that 
demands the subordination. Whether the tyranny 
he consciously or unconsciously exercised makes 
little difference in the results either to the tyrants 
or their subordinates. Obedience should never be 
degraded into subordination. Training should 
never be degraded to mean adult interferences. 
Obedience should mean joyous co-operation, will- 
ingness to be guided in productive work by wiser 
leadership. Obedience should be more than sub- 
mission. It should mean partnership. At first 
it should mean a partnership between adult and 
child. The highest training will gradually lead 
to a partnership between child and adult, ine 
ehild develops character power both m insight 



108 MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

and in achievement by transforming conditions 
in harmony with his own plans, not be executing 
the plans of his father or his teacher. During 
the partnership of adult and child the child ac- 
quires the skill which he should use afterwards 
in developing vision, directive force, and achiev- 
ing power by carrying out his own plans in the 
partnership of child and adult. The old system 
of training the child always maintained the part- 
nership of adult and child. The new system of 
training naturally leads as soon as possible to the 
partnership of child and adult. Under the old sys- 
tem the adult was always the active partner, the 
leader, and the child was a mere follower. By 
the new system of training, the child becomes the 
active partner as soon as possible. Either in home 
or school the child is always happy to co-operate 
with parents or teachers in their work, if his 
rights are recognized in the departments of work 
in which he should be the leader. 

Obedience should never become conscious sub' 
ordination to a person. The question of the per- 
sonality of the adult should not be a prominent 
element in securing obedience. The aim of the 
teacher should be to obtain reverence for law; 
the law of the game, the law of the competition, 
the law of the school, the law of the state, and 
ultimately the law of his own life development, 
and the law of God. In this progressive moral 



MISTAKES IN MORAL TRAINING 109 

development the child should retain and increase 
his reverence for his own self-hood as the most 
sacred power with which he has been entrusted. 
He should be reverenced truly by his teacher as 
a thought and plan of God. Every boy gives 
back to his teacher or father as much reverence as 
he receives, and no adult is entitled to any more 
reverence from a boy than he is willing to give 
to the boy. Reverence for adulthood has been 
demanded in the past. It should be won and de- 
served, not merely demanded. Real, vital rever- 
ence must be won. 

95. It Is a Mistake Not to Develop the Child's 
Faith in Himself. — Humanity fails in reaching its 
highest achievements on account of lack of indi- 
viduals in faith in their own power more than 
for any other reason. Each child has some spe- 
cial power. The highest development of human 
progress depends on the doing of his own best 
work by each individual. Each child should be 
gradually led to recognize the great fact that he 
has special power, and to be grateful for that 
power as his highest good; as the source of his 
ability to aid his fellow-men, as his offering in 
promoting an advancing civilization, and as the 
element in his character which should be most 
productive in securing his own happiness. 

True humility is one of the most pleasing as 
well as one of the most productive virtues. Spu- 



HO MISTAKES IN TEACHING 

rious humility, which is the type produced by 
most training is degrading to the individual and 
the race. True humility is positive and vital, 
spurious humility is merely negative. It can not 
make a man vain to make him conscious of his 
power to achieve for his fellow-men. Nothing else 
can kindle a boy so thoroughly as a revelation 
of his true selfhood. 

96. It Is a Mistake Not to Develop the Child's 
Self-Activity. — Every child who is not defective 
intellectually manifests three definite tendencies 
as soon as he is able to move around. He likes 
to do things, he enjoys doing things he plans 
himself, and he is happiest when doing things in 
co-operation with others. These three tendencies 
form the strongest elements in the highest Chris- 
tian character. 

Unfortunately few adults possess these three 
fundamental elements of strong productive moral 
character in adulthood in the same degree as in 
childhood. The loss of these elements of char- 
acter is the greatest tragedy connected with hu- 
man life. Their loss has resulted from wrong 
ideals in regard to child training, and dwarfing 
methods based on these wrong ideals. 

The supreme aim of teachers should be to pre- 
serve and develop the child's natural tendencies 
to do, to do what he plans himself, and to do in 
co-operation with his fellows. These tendencies 



MISTAKES IN MORAL TRAINING 1 1 1 

should be the dominant elements in his character 
at adulthood. They are the elements that should 
be most productive in his individual development 
and in qualifying him for his work as a citizen. 
As these elements are among the child's highest 
powers, they have therefore the highest possibili- 
ties of development. The most serious charge that 
can be brought against the training of the past 
is the fact that these powers are weaker in adult- 
hood than in childhood. To develop these elements 
of character the child must be self-active to a 
much greater extent than he has been in all de- 
partments of school work. To develop methods of 
teaching and training that will lead to real cul- 
ture without interfering with the child's self- 
activity is the most vital problem in education. 



INDEX 

Page 



Ability and Goodness 101 

Anger, Showing 25 



Answering Questions 
Applied Knowledge 
Assignment of Lessons. 

B 
Bell as a Signal 

C 
Calling for Order.. 



74 
72 
61 

39 

36 

Children's Own Way 34 

Clearness and Thorough- 
ness 70 

Coercion in Moral Train- 
ing 103 

Commands vs. Suggestions 22 
Complaining or Grumbling 15 

Confidence in Pupils 43 

Confusion of Orders 42 

Control by External Agen- 
cies 93 

Co-operation of Parents.. 24 

Corporal Punishment 55 

Criticising, Training in... 91 
D 

Demerit Marks 14 

Detaining Pupils 16 

Deportment 88 

Disorderly Pupils 35 

Dull Pupils, Neglecting. . . 71 

E 
Emotional Nature, Arous- 
ing 

Errors, Detecting and Cor- 
recting 

Excited, Getting 



9G 



Faith in One's Self 109 

Formal Moral Training. . .102 
Freedom of Choice.. 104 

G 
Good Order 31 

H 
Higher Authority 17 



Home Work 



62 



Inertness of Character.. 



Learning by Doing 80 

Learning of Names 78 

Lessons, Size of 69 

Long Words, Using 77 

Losing Sight of Class 48 

M 

Maintaining Discipline.... 36 

Manners and Habits 20 

Memory Work 67 



Page 

Minor Details of Manage- 
ment 5 

Moral Goodness 95 

Morals on Playground.... 92 
Motives Beyond Compre- 
hension 90 

O 
Obedience vs. Subordina- 
tion 107 

Objects: Their Use 74 

Order, Establishing 31 

P 

Parents, Dealing with 24 

Participating in Games... 12 

Perfect Quiet 34 

Play in the Schoolroom... 47 

Position when Drilling. . . 13 

Positions of Children 46 

Preparation of Lessons... 76 

Presentation of Difficulties 79 

Punctuality 20 

Punishment 51, 94 

Pushing a Pupil in Line.. 13 

a 

Questioning Pupils 59 

R 

Repeating Questions 60 

Repressing Activities 57 

Review, Need of 65 

Ridicule and Sarcasm 50 

Rules, Too Many 43 

S 

Scolding 16 

Securing Order 32 

Self-Activity 110 

Self-Control 41 

Sitting While Teaching... 21 

T 

Tale-bearing 18 

Talking While Teaching.. 76 
Temptations of Self-re- 
porting 91 

Text-books: Their Uses... 61 

Tone of Voice 35, 45 

Trifling Errors 15 

Troublesome Pupils 22 

V 

Variation in Discipline... 39 

Variety in Work 65 

Violation of Rules 99 

w 

Watching Pupils 60 

Whipping 43 

Whispering 56 

Will: Weakness of the 100 



Yard Supervision 11 



112 



[JUN 4 1906 



